Cosmology, Nascent universe, Distant Universe, first structures and galaxies

This theme focuses on describing and understanding the primordial universe and its first organizations, from the cosmic microwave background to galaxies, through large structures such as galaxy clusters.

In terms of cosmology, we are working to assess the robustness of standard models and to progress in the knowledge of dark energy in the light of current data.

We are also studying the populations of groups and clusters of galaxies over a wide range of masses and redshifts, to build catalogs of the local Universe at the time of the assembly of the first large halos of matter. The study of the first galaxies (z~3-7) is another major theme, approached by the use of cluster lensing to magnify and intensify the radiation of background galaxies.

We use the full range of observation means, ground and space, from radio waves to the X domain (Noema & ALMA, Herschel and Spitzer, Planck, VLT-MUSE, XMM, eROSITA, etc.), as well as theory and physical and numerical modeling of complex radiative or dynamic astrophysical processes (hydro and magneto-hydrodynamic turbulence). We are preparing EUCLID, the future instrumentation of the ELT, ATHENA, LiteBird and SPICA.