The Hubble constant, H0, that measures the current expansion rate of the Universe is one of the key parameters of the cosmological model. It can be measured from the Cosmic Microwave Background or directly in the local Universe. While the two measurements should give the same value, as they measure the same universe, they do not agree in practice. This can be a sign that the cosmological model does not describe well-enough our universe, or that the measurements of H0 somehow suffer from systematics. One fully independent way of measuring H0 locally is to use the so-called time delays in strongly lensed quasars, in combination with detailed models of the potential well for the galaxy(ies) responsible for the lensing effect. The PhD is fully devoted to the measurement of H0 with strong lenses and will involve lens modeling, dynamical modeling of lenses as well as processing of HST and JWST observations of such objects. This work, and therefore the student, is/will be part of the TDCOSMO collaboration.

The student will join the new research group of Prof. Frédéric Courbin, at ICCUB but will of course benefit from and contribute to the other groups in observational cosmology at ICCUB.

Manual candidats convocatòries investigadors.pdf