Computer simulations showing the evolution of two different cosmological models; one corresponds to a dark-energy-dominated Universe (so-called Lambda-CDM, left), the other to a Universe without dark energy (SCDM, right). Only the Lambda-CDM model matches the results of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), confirming, for the first time ever using natural weak lenses , the accelerated expansion of the Universe. The simulations both evolve the matter distribution to the present time, starting at redshift of five, which is roughly the redshift of the most distant sources used in the analysis of COSMOS. This corresponds to a time 12.9 billion years ago for the Lambda-CDM simulation and 8.7 billion years ago for SCDM. When dark energy is present, galaxy clusters grow more slowly and it changes the way the Universe expands, leading to more distant, and more efficiently lensed, galaxies. The simulations were created with Gadget-2 (V. SPRINGEL) and depicted with IFRIT (N. GNEDIN).<br>Restrictions: |