Simulating Canada-France Imaging Survey Observations for Weak Lensing Bias Calibration

Weak lensing, the subtle distortion of galaxy shapes due to matter along the line of sight, is an effect that can be used to measure the mass of galaxies and clusters. The effect is sensitive to both stellar and dark matter, which makes the technique extremely valuable for constraining cosmological parameters. Through observations of weak lensing, dark matter and dark energy properties, as well as the growth of large scale structure in the universe, can be constrained. In order to achieve the required level of precision, exquisitely accurate measurements of the shapes of galaxies are required. However, it is known that shape measurement algorithms are biased in the presence of noise. The success of the Canada-France Imaging Survey (CFIS), a large, $7 million international collaboration, depends on being able to characterize and correct for the bias in galaxy shape measurements. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Hudson

Student:

Partner:

Université de Paris

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Globalink Research Award