by bystander » Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:27 pm
So You Think You Can Solve a Cosmology Puzzle?
NASA JPL | 2010-407 | 06 Dec 2010
Cosmologists have come up with a new way to solve their problems. They are inviting scientists, including those from totally unrelated fields, to participate in a grand competition. The idea is to spur outside interest in one of cosmology's trickiest problems -- measuring the invisible dark matter and dark energy that permeate our universe.
The results will help in the development of new space missions, designed to answer fundamental questions about the history and fate of our universe.
...
This year, the competition, which has operated since 2008, is called GREAT 2010, after
GRavitational l
Ensing
Accuracy
Testing. The challenge is to solve a series of puzzles involving distorted images of galaxies. Occasionally in nature, a galaxy is situated behind a clump of matter that is causing the light from the galaxy to bend. The result is a magnified and skewed image of the galaxy. In the most extreme cases, the warping results in multiple images and even a perfect ring, called an Einstein Ring after Albert Einstein, who predicted the effect. But most of the time, the results are more subtle and a galaxy image is distorted just a tiny bit -- not even enough to be perceived by eye. This is called weak gravitational lensing, or just weak lensing for short.
...
The GREAT 2010 challenge is designed to improve weak-lensing know-how. Participants will start with fuzzy pictures of galaxies that have been distorted ever so slightly by invisible dark matter parked in front of them. The effect is so small that you can't see it with your eyes. The problem is even trickier because the telescopes are also distorting the galaxy images to an even greater degree than the dark matter. It takes complex techniques -- mathematical models and image-analysis algorithms -- to tease apart these various influences and ultimately discover how dark matter is warping a galaxy's shape.
...
Participants will have nine months to solve a series of thousands of puzzles. The winners will be announced at a closing ceremony and workshop held at JPL. Prize-winners can expect some kind of cool gadget -- as well as the satisfaction of having brought the world one step closer to understanding what makes our universe tick.
[url=http://www.greatchallenges.info/][img]http://www.roe.ac.uk/~tdk/great/greatchallenges/GREAT_files/droppedImage.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-407][size=120][b][i]So You Think You Can Solve a Cosmology Puzzle?[/i][/b][/size][/url]
NASA JPL | 2010-407 | 06 Dec 2010
[quote][float=right][img3="[url=http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/great20101206-i.html][b]COSMOS: Dark Matter Clumps[/b][/url] [i](Credit: NASA/ESA/Caltech)[/i]"]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/503726main_great20101206-43_946-710.jpg[/img3][/float]Cosmologists have come up with a new way to solve their problems. They are inviting scientists, including those from totally unrelated fields, to participate in a grand competition. The idea is to spur outside interest in one of cosmology's trickiest problems -- measuring the invisible dark matter and dark energy that permeate our universe.
The results will help in the development of new space missions, designed to answer fundamental questions about the history and fate of our universe.
...
This year, the competition, which has operated since 2008, is called GREAT 2010, after [b]GR[/b]avitational l[b]E[/b]nsing [b]A[/b]ccuracy [b]T[/b]esting. The challenge is to solve a series of puzzles involving distorted images of galaxies. Occasionally in nature, a galaxy is situated behind a clump of matter that is causing the light from the galaxy to bend. The result is a magnified and skewed image of the galaxy. In the most extreme cases, the warping results in multiple images and even a perfect ring, called an Einstein Ring after Albert Einstein, who predicted the effect. But most of the time, the results are more subtle and a galaxy image is distorted just a tiny bit -- not even enough to be perceived by eye. This is called weak gravitational lensing, or just weak lensing for short.
...
The GREAT 2010 challenge is designed to improve weak-lensing know-how. Participants will start with fuzzy pictures of galaxies that have been distorted ever so slightly by invisible dark matter parked in front of them. The effect is so small that you can't see it with your eyes. The problem is even trickier because the telescopes are also distorting the galaxy images to an even greater degree than the dark matter. It takes complex techniques -- mathematical models and image-analysis algorithms -- to tease apart these various influences and ultimately discover how dark matter is warping a galaxy's shape.
...
Participants will have nine months to solve a series of thousands of puzzles. The winners will be announced at a closing ceremony and workshop held at JPL. Prize-winners can expect some kind of cool gadget -- as well as the satisfaction of having brought the world one step closer to understanding what makes our universe tick.
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