Abstract

Invited Talk - Plenary

Thursday, 10 September 2026, 11:00   (MW-1801 / virtual plenum)

Entering the golden age of cosmic shear measurements

Hendrik Hildebrandt
Ruhr University Bochum

The weak gravitational lensing effect of the cosmic large-scale structure, also known as cosmic shear, was first detected in the year 2000. Since then, increasingly ambitious surveys have been conducted to use this tool to test the standard model of cosmology and, in particular, reveal the physical nature of dark energy and gravity. We are currently at the threshold between stage III and stage IV experiments that will increase the signal-to-noise ratio from ~100 to ~1000 before the end of this decade. This talk will review the theory behind cosmic shear, its main advantages over other cosmological probes, and the most important systematic errors that need to be controlled. A short historical overview and the final results from KiDS (Kilo-Degree Survey) and DES (Dark Energy Survey) will be presented before providing an outlook on the potentially groundbreaking first results from the Euclid space mission that will be released in the coming year as well as the upcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).