Jennifer Pollack — moved to Thursday Feb 18, 14:30-15:30

The clustering properties of galaxies, when accurately estimated and modelled, have the potential to act as a powerful probe in cosmology.  The higher-order connected moments, beginning at lowest order with the three-point correlation function and its Fourier analogue, thebispectrum, encode important information regarding the growth and properties of the large-scale structure of the Universe.  In this talk, I will give a brief overview about cosmological investigations with the bispectrum. I will provide some examples of how it can be used as diagnostic tool for cosmology.  However, I will also be realistic and highlight the theoretical and observational challenges that must be resolved in order for the galaxy bispectrum to be used as a powerful cosmic probe.  I would like to share what my involvement in that endeavour has been and how I intend to use the bispectrum to learn more about dark matter halo bias.