Modern Cosmology: Interactive Computer Simulations that use Recent Observational Surveys

Abstract: We present a collection of new, open-source computational tools for numerically modeling recent large-scale observational data sets using modern cosmology theory. Specifically, these tools will allow both students and researchers to constrain the parameter values in competitive cosmological models, thereby discovering both the accelerated expansion of the universe and its composition (e.g., dark matter and dark energy). These programs have several features to help the non-cosmologist build an understanding of cosmological models and their relation to observational data: a built-in collection of several real observational data sets; sliders to vary the values of the parameters that define different cosmological models; real-time plotting of simulated data; and $\chi^2$ calculations of the goodness of fit for each choice of parameters (theory) and observational data (experiment). The current list of built-in observations includes several recent supernovae Type Ia surveys, baryon acoustic oscillations, the cosmic microwave background radiation, gamma-ray bursts, and measurements of the Hubble parameter. In this article, we discuss specific results for testing cosmological models using these observational data. These programs can be found at http://www.compadre.org/osp/items/detail.cfm?ID=12406.