Abstract :
The continuous improvement of our instruments and re-evaluation of observational data through novel techniques have improved our understanding of how the Universe has evolved since the Big Bang and established modern cosmology. However, open questions remain on how gravity, dark energy, and dark matter have shaped the Universe to its current form. This poses a major challenge to our theoretical understanding and analysis methods that could potentially lead to new physics. Gravitational lensing - how light gets deflected, distorted, and refocused as it encounters various mass concentrations while traveling through space – has become an indispensable tool for shedding more light into these critical aspects of our Universe. The number of known gravitational lenses has increased dramatically in the last decade and large surveys like Euclid, LSST, and Roman, will further discover about 3 orders of magnitude more. The timing could not be better for developing those key algorithms that will be able to handle the huge influx of data, accelerate the analysis, and maximize the scientific returns from these large surveys. I will present a new approach that promises to resolve one of the main challenges faced by modern cosmology regarding clustering of matter on the largest scales, which would be unfeasible without the use of Graphics Processing Units and Machine Learning. I will further describe how Artificial Intelligence can help accelerate discoveries with gravitational lensing across the board. Finally, I will discuss how my access to a number of resources and professional networks sitting at the intersection of academia and industry could serve to further benefit the vibrant and dynamic research environment at FORTH.
Short Bio: Giorgos Vernardos got his physics degree from Aristoteleio Panepistimio Thessalonikis and after a short passage from Belgium and neutron star crusts he joined Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, from where he got his PhD in Astrophysics working on microlensing. He then switched field, and continent, working as a postdoc on strong lensing at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen, The Netherlands. After a short passage from IA-FORTH in 2019, he received a prestigious Marie Curie fellowship at EPFL, Switzerland. He has been an Assistant Professor at Lehman College, City University of New York, and a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History since 2024.
