Understanding of Systematics in Stage-IV Galaxy Weak Lensing Surveys

Project Description:

This project dives into how tiny distortions in galaxy shapes help us map the invisible Universe and probe dark matter and dark energy. We'll focus on two key 'troublemakers' in weak lensing surveys e.g., intrinsic alignments of galaxies and errors in photometric redshifts, and see how they can fake or hide real cosmological signals. Using simple models and mock data, we’ll learn the basics of weak lensing theory, write code to compute power spectra and correlation functions, and test strategies to control these systematics.

Research Area:

Astrophysics

Project Level:

Honours

This Project Is Offered At The Following Node(s):

(UCT)(UKZN)(NWU)