SESZIONE DI TORINO
Standard rods, candles and masses play a crucial role in mapping our Universe, as well as in mapping where our universe lies in the manifold of possible cosmological models. I will briefly discuss the standard candle and mass techniques before focusing on the physics of the baryon acoustic oscillation signal. This signal provides a standard rod in the cosmic background radiation, as well as in the galaxy distribution, which can be used to constrain models of the dark energy equation of state. These constraints depend on just how standard, or standardizable, this rod is. I will review the measurements to date, for which the rod is rigid enough, and will then describe efforts to standardize the rod for use in the next generation of map

DATA: 03-07-2008