Characterizing Dark Energy and Expansion History of the Universe — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Characterizing Dark Energy and Expansion History of the Universe

Name: Eli Favela
Major: Physics and Mathematics
Hometown: Palatine, IL
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis

Abstract

This is an attempt to understand modern cosmology and characterize the significance of dark energy in the universe to compare with current statements from modern cosmology. Unique cosmological models produce differences in light travel distances measured at high redshifts. Supernovae from the SCP Union2.1 SN Ia compilation are used as standard candles to determine distances at these high redshifts and constrain initial parameters. From this method, and assuming a spatially flat Euclidean space-time, dark energy is shown to comprise approximately 71.9% of the energy content in the universe today and matter contributes 28.1%. Compared to the most precise measurements to date from WMAP of 71.4% and 28.6% this study was able to fairly accurately agree with the current standard measure of dark energy. Using this measure, the age of the universe is shown to be roughly 14 billion years old.

Poster file