The LUPM team

One of the great issues of modern physics concerns the constituents, the geometry and the dynamics of the Universe. Since the 1930’, and Zwicky’s original observations on galaxy clusters, we have accumulated observations that all point toward a dominating fraction of non baryonic Dark Matter. Moreover, since the 1990’, with the observation of the accelerating expansion of the Universe, Dark Energy seems to play a major role in the global density of the Universe, with all observations compatible with a Universe density equal to the critical one. Still, the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy remain hypothetical. Particle physics proposes a natural candidate for the constituent of Dark Matter. Within the framework of Supersymmetry, Dark Matter could be made of the lightest supersymmetric particle. This topic is investigated at LUPM through phenomenological studies of direct search for supersymmetric signals at particle physics colliders, and indirect searches looking for annihilation signals in gamma rays. More generally, the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm has been investigated at LUPM through optical observations of galaxy clusters and large scale structures, and within the realm of wider cosmological theoretical studies. One major motivation of the LUPM LSST team is to bring a new way to pursue this investigation, namely cosmological probes and large scale structures as observed with optical telescopes. The LSST programme has an unprecedented potential to refine our understanding of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, as it will be able to use and combine five cosmological probes on its data. This is an opportunity for the LUPM to enlarge its scientific output on some of the most intriguing issues of current cosmology.