Solving the enigmas surrounding Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which together account for over 95 percent of the energy density of our universe, is a crucial research objective in modern-day theoretical and experimental physics, and of the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre Bonn - Heidelberg - Munich. The existence of Dark Matter has been deduced indirectly on the basis of a whole range of measurements. Though it represents anything up to a quarter of the energy density of the universe, nothing is known about its physical nature or constitution. At present we only have knowledge of the approximately 5 percent of baryonic matter susceptible of direct observation and measurement.
The major part of the energy density of the universe consists of the Dark Energy distributed equally throughout its expanses. Measurement of the light from remote supernovae indicate that our universe is expanding more and more quickly. Theoretically, an explanation for this phenomenon has been sought either in the so-called "cosmological constants" mooted in Einstein's Field Equations or in a time-dependent description. Finding an answer to the question of whether Dark Energy is static or dynamic is of immense fundamental significance for physics. It has a crucial bearing not only on cosmology and astrophysics but also on particle physics.
The Transregional Collaborative Research Centre set up on 1 July 2006 at the Universities of Heidelberg, Bonn and Munich will draw on the research already being done on Dark Matter and Dark Energy at these locations, coordinate it, and extend its scope. One essential aim of the research initiative is to examine the possible interaction between Dark Matter (probably involving hitherto unknown elementary particles) and Dark Energy.
The collaboration between scientists at three German universities, who have already been working on various aspects of the proposed initiative, provides an opportunity to achieve a leading international position in a field of research that can be expected to expand appreciably in the coming years. To this end, 15 part-projects have been initiated within the overall framework of this transregional undertaking. These part-projects are grouped into three categories: the origin of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, the time history of Dark Energy and the connections between Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Heidelberg is the coordinating university.
DFG Programme
CRC/Transregios
Completed projects
-
A01 - Quintessence, branes and higher dimensions
(Project Heads
Förste, Stefan
;
Nilles, Hans-Peter
;
Wetterich, Christof
)
-
A02 - Inflation and the origin of Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Mukhanov, Viatcheslav
;
Nilles, Hans-Peter
)
-
A03 - Origin of Dark Energy and Dark Matter in String Theory
(Project Heads
Brunner, Ilka
;
Hebecker, Arthur
;
Lüst, Dieter
;
Weigand, Timo
)
-
A04 - Dark Matter in Randall-Sundrum Brane Cosmolgy
(Project Head
Hebecker, Arthur
)
-
A05 - WIMPs as candidates for Dark Matter
(Project Head
Drees, Manuel
)
-
A06 - Fundamental Theories of Modified Gravity and Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Dvali, Georgi
;
Hofmann, Stefan
)
-
A07 - The cosmology of graviton condensates
(Project Heads
Dvali, Georgi
;
Hofmann, Stefan
)
-
B01 - Early Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Doran, Michael
;
Wetterich, Christof
)
-
B02 - K-Essence and its Observational Imprints
(Project Heads
Mukhanov, Viatcheslav
;
Sachs, Ivo
)
-
B03 - Supernovae Probing the Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Hillebrandt, Wolfgang
;
Leibundgut, Bruno
;
Röpke, Friedrich
)
-
B04 - Explorin the Dark Universe with the Cosmic Microwave Background
(Project Heads
Bartelmann, Matthias
;
Doran, Michael
;
Enßlin, Torsten
)
-
B05 - Weak lensing and constraints on the Dark Engergy equation-of-State
(Project Heads
Erben, Thomas
;
Schneider, Peter
;
Seitz, Stella
)
-
B06 - Gravitational Lensing and X-Ray Emission by Non-Linear Structures
(Project Heads
Bartelmann, Matthias
;
Reiprich, Thomas H.
)
-
B07 - Probing Dark Matter and Dark Energy with observations of the evolution and spatial distribution of galaxy clusters
(Project Heads
Bertoldi, Frank
;
Dolag, Klaus
;
Mohr, Joseph
)
-
B08 - Galaxy Power Spectrum and Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Bender, Ralf
;
Phleps, Stefanie
;
Schuecker, Peter
)
-
B10 - Non-locality and Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Mukhanov, Viatcheslav
;
Sachs, Ivo
)
-
B11 - Analysis and forecasts for large-scale Dark Energy surveys
(Project Heads
Amendola, Luca
;
Porciani, Cristiano
;
Weller, Jochen
)
-
B12 - Next Generation Supernova Surveys
(Project Heads
Kowalski, Marek
;
Leibundgut, Bruno
)
-
B13 - Dark Energy Constraints from Strong-Lensing Elliptical Galaxies
(Project Head
Seitz, Stella
)
-
B14 - Large-scale structure and Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Bender, Ralf
;
Porciani, Cristiano
;
Sanchez, Ariel G.
)
-
B15 - Mapping the Hubble flow with supernovae
(Project Heads
Hillebrandt, Wolfgang
;
Leibundgut, Bruno
)
-
B16 - Non-linear structure growth traced by galaxy clusters
(Project Heads
Bartelmann, Matthias
;
Erben, Thomas
)
-
B17 - Non-linear clustering in Dark Energy cosmology: Analytical and semianalytical methods
(Project Heads
Amendola, Luca
;
Bartelmann, Matthias
;
Pettorino, Valeria
;
Wetterich, Christof
)
-
B18 - Studies of the Dark Universe with eROSITA Galaxy Clusters
(Project Heads
Böhringer, Hans
;
Mohr, Joseph
;
Reiprich, Thomas H.
)
-
C01 - Simulating the galaxy population of Dark Energy universes
(Project Heads
Porciani, Cristiano
;
Springel, Volker
;
White, Simon
)
-
C03 - Dark Engergy - Dark Matter Interaction
(Project Heads
Amendola, Luca
;
Pettorino, Valeria
;
Springel, Volker
;
Wetterich, Christof
)
-
C04 - Unified Dark Matter and Energy
(Project Heads
Dreiner, Ph.D., Herbert
;
Nilles, Hans-Peter
)
-
C06 - The "Why Now" problem of Dark Energy
(Project Heads
Amendola, Luca
;
Wetterich, Christof
)
-
C07 - WISPy Cold Dark Matter - From theory to experiment
(Project Head
Jaeckel, Joerg
)
-
Z - Central Tasks
(Project Heads
Amendola, Luca
;
Bender, Ralf
;
Wetterich, Christof
;
Wolschin, Georg
)