Dark energy physics expectations at DES

TL;DR

This paper discusses how the Dark Energy Survey (DES) aims to improve understanding of dark energy by combining multiple cosmological probes, potentially refining measurements and testing gravity theories.

Contribution

It presents the expected capabilities of DES to enhance dark energy constraints through combined probe analysis, a novel approach at the time.

Findings

DES can improve dark energy parameter measurements by a factor of 3-5.

DES can distinguish between general relativity and modified gravity.

Combining four probes enhances the robustness of dark energy studies.

Abstract

Giving rise to a new and exciting research field, observations of the last 13 years established the accelerated expansion of the Universe. This is a strong indication of new physics, either in the form of a new energy component of the Universe -- dark energy -- or of theories of gravity beyond general relativity. A powerful approach to this problem is the study of complementary cosmological probes in large optical galaxy surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We present the expectations for dark energy physics based on the combination of four fundamental probes: galaxy clusters, weak lensing, large scale structure and supernovae. We show that DES data have constraining power to improve current measurements of the dark energy equation-of-state parameter by a factor of 3--5 and to distinguish between general relativity and modified gravity scenarios.