This program will investigate a new technique to explore the ?Hidden Universe? of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. This will be accomplished via determination of the amplitude of matter fluctuations in the universe through measurements of the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (the scattering of Cosmic Microwave Background photons off hot gas in galaxy clusters) and gravitational lensing. The proposed technique will be applied to real data from the Atacama Cosmology Experiment, the Planck experiment and the Subaru telescope.
Broader impacts of the work include training of undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, Dr. Spergel has participated in several TV programs on cosmology per year and will continue to do so. He will also continue his program of speaking to elementary school students on measurement and cosmology.
