Research

The principal science goals of our research are: to constrain the physics of the early Universe through development of theoretical predictions and confrontation with observational data; to identify the leading cosmological models and to test competing theories of dark energy; to understand the formation of the largest structures; to relate galaxy formation and evolution to structure formation through new large surveys and advanced modelling.

Depicting conference posters about Sussex Astronomy

Galaxy formation and evolution

It is believed that the seeds of galaxy formation are small fluctuations in the density of the Universe at redshifts z ~ 1000, left behind after a period of inflation.

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Clusters

Cluster evolution studies are key to our ambition to use clusters as cosmological probes and to the understanding of structure formation.

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Numerical Simulations of Structure Formation and Reionization

The early Universe had no stars and so there were no sources of light — this is known as the Dark Ages.

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Testing Cosmological Models

In recent years a Standard Cosmological Model has emerged based on an expanding spatially-flat Universe with dark matter and dark energy.

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Physics of the Early Universe

The cosmology theory group is active in a number of areas. We are studying models of the early universe based on contemporary ideas in fundamental physics, including string theory and M-theory.

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