Frontiers of Dark Energy

Cosmologists are just beginning to probe the properties of the cosmic vacuum and its role in reversing the attractive pull of gravity to cause an acceleration in the expansion of the cosmos. The cause of this acceleration is given the generic name of dark energy, whether it is due to a true vacuum, a false, temporary vacuum, or a new relation between the vacuum and the force of gravity. Despite the common name, the distinction between these origins is of utmost interest and physicists are actively engaged in finding ways to use cosmological observations to distinguish which is the true, new physics. Here we will discuss how to relate the theoretical ideas to the experimental constraints, how to understand the influences of dark energy on the expansion and structure in the universe, and what frontiers of new physics are being illuminated by current and near-term data.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures; invited review chapter for book aimed at general scientists; v2 fixed sign typos in Eqs. 1.2-1.

Redshift Distortions as a Probe of Gravity

Redshift distortion measurements from galaxy surveys include sensitivity to the gravitational growth index distinguishing other theories from Einstein gravity. This gravitational sensitivity is substantially free from uncertainty in the effective equation of state of the cosmic expansion history. We also illustrate the bias in the traditional application to matter density determination using f=Omega_m(a)^{0.6}, and how to avoid it.Comment: 4 page