June General Meeting: “Dark Matter”
The speaker for our June General Meeting will be Dr. Vera Margoniner, PhD., Physics & Astronomy Assistant Professor, California State University, Sacramento.
Title: What is Dark Matter?
Abstract: Astronomers have come to the amazing conclusion that most of the matter and energy in the universe cannot be directly detected. This talk will present multiple and independent observations that have forced astronomers to this conclusion, and discuss what may this mysterious dark matter may consist of.
Friday, June 15, 2012:
Board Meeting at 6:30 PM
General Meeting at 8:00 PM
Both held at Sac City College, Mohr Hall
(click here for directions)
About Dr. Margoniner:
My main scientific interests are in cluster and galaxy evolution; mechanisms of cluster detection; large-scale structure; weak and strong gravitational lensing and observational cosmology.
I am deeply involved with the Deep Lens Survey (DLS), an ultra-deep multi-band optical survey covering 20 square degrees of “blank”regions in the sky. The main goal of this project is to use weak gravitational lensing to map the large-scale structure of the mass distribution, producing the first-ever sample of clusters selected by mass (shear-selected). The DLS has recently completed imaging observations and we have just computed photometric redshifts for the entire survey. I am in the process of optically searching for clusters and want to address cluster and galaxy evolution using the multi-band photometry plus redshifts. Also, adding accurate galaxy shapes will allow us to also address structure formation through weak-lensing and cosmic shear.
