Investigating the dark matter distribution in the Universe: Theory of higher-order cosmic shear statistics

宇宙剪切，即大尺度结构的引力透镜效应，已经成为我们宇宙学标准模型的支柱之一，因为它允许我们研究宇宙中暗物质的分布，而不需要参考它与发光物质的关系。近年来，在两点统计水平上对宇宙剪切的定量研究已经对宇宙密度波动的功率谱的归一化作出了准确的估计。这项提议的目的是对高阶宇宙剪切统计数据进行理论研究，这些统计数据已经被观测到，并将在目前正在进行或计划进行的下一代宇宙剪切调查中进行详细研究。这种理论分析是迫切需要的，以便能够定量地解释最早将于2006年到达的未来观测结果。

Cosmic shear, the gravitational lensing effect of the largescale structure, has become one of the pillars of our cosmological standard models, since it allows the study of the dark matter distribution in our Universe without any reference to its relation with the luminous matter. In recent years, quantitative investigations of cosmic shear on the two-point statistical level has yielded accurate estimates of the normalization of the power spectrum of cosmic density fluctuations. The aim of this proposal is the theoretical study of higher-order cosmic shear statistics, which already have been detected observationally and which will be investigated in detail with the next generation cosmic shear surveys currently under way or being planned. This theoretical analysis is urgently needed in order to being able to quantitatively interprete the future observational results, which shall arrive as early as 2006.