Prof. Dr. Alexandre Refregier

Research area

Recent observations have established that the energy density of the universe at our epoch is dominated by two mysterious components. First, 76% of its energy density is in the form of Dark Energy, which is causing the Universe expansion to accelerate. Another 20% of the energy in the universe is in the form of dark matter, which exerts a gravitational attraction as normal matter, but does not emit light. One possibility to explain one or both of these puzzles is that Einstein's General Relativity, and thus our understanding of gravity, needs to be revised on cosmological scales. Together, dark energy and dark matter pose some of the most important questions in fundamental physics today. My research interests focus on the understanding of these fundamental questions in Cosmology from measurements of the large-scale structure of the universe. For this purpose, I use astrophysical observations in different wavelengths ranging from X-rays to the radio band and combine the observational, theoretical and instrumental approaches.

Astrophysics and Cosmology: Dark energy, Dark matter, Weak Gravitational lensing, Baryon Accoustic Oscillations, Cosmic Microwave Background, Galaxy Clusters

Methods: theoretical modelling, space mission development (Principal Investigator level, science and instrumentation), observations, data analysis methods

Publications

ADS / astro-ph