Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology

Abstract:

We describe the aims, strategy and status of the AAO 2dF QSO redshift survey. This goal of the survey is to obtain redshifts for 30000 QSOs in a homogeneous magnitude limited (B<21) survey. The survey began in early 1997 and should be complete by the end of 1999.

Abstract:

A scalar field with an exponential potential has the particular property that it is attracted into a solution in which its energy scales as the dominant component (radiation or matter) of the Universe, contributing a fixed fraction of the total energy density. We study the growth of perturbations in a CDM dominated $\Omega=1$ universe with this extra field, with an initial flat spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations. The observational constraints from structure formation are satisfied as well, or better, than in other models, with a contribution to the energy density from the scalar field $\Omega_\phi \sim 0.1$ which is small enough to be consistent with entry into the attractor prior to nucleosynthesis.

Abstract:

We propose a new method for constraining a primordial homogeneous magnetic field with the cosmic microwave background. Such a field will induce an observable parity odd cross correlation between the polarization anisotropy and the temperature anisotropy by Faraday rotation. We analyze the necessary experimental features to match, and improve, current constraints of such a field by measuring this correlation.