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Oliver Zahn Physics Division, MS 50R5004 I am a theoretical astrophysicist at the Center for Cosmological Physics. I hope to become a general purpose cosmologist, understanding the large scale structure and evolution of the universe using the methods of physics.
In my more recent research (using analytic and numerical techniques) I have tried to model how Large Scale Structure affects what we see when we look deep into the early ages of the universe. The Large Scale Structure is a network of galaxy clusters, filaments, sheets around voids in the universe. For example, the supposed Secondary Anisotropy is imprinted on the "primary" Cosmic Microwave Background by the scattering of photons off hot electrons. Another type of anisotropy (at an emitted wavelength of 21 cm) was produced before the neutrality stopped, and while everything became ionized again - around 100 Million years into the universe's history. I have developed analytic and numerical models to describe this epoch, called Reionization. En route to us, photons of both the CMB and 21 cm were deflected in the presence of large masses, a process called gravitational lensing. I have worked on developing and applying methods to measure this lensing effect, and using it to constrain properties of the dark matter and dark energy. |
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