IFAE Personnel
Experimental Division
IFAE Personnel
Experimental Division
I grew up in Hungary in the heart of the Örség National Park and then moved to Budapest to pursue a physics career. For my BSc thesis, I was studying the statistical properties of gamma-ray bursts catalogues. Then I turned to cosmology during my two master years and worked out a novel tool to study the randomness in the Cosmic Microwave Background WMAP data set.
I performed my PhD research at the Eötvös University under the supervison of Prof. István Szapudi. I was a frequent visitor at the Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, USA and contributed to the Pan-STARRS1 galaxy survey.
For my first post-doc position, I moved to IFAE Barcelona where I continue studying the largest supervoids using new data from the Dark Energy Survey. I am also member of the PAU and Euclid collaborations.
Besides work, I like hiking, traveling, and playing football. I also own a small vegetable garden in Cornella de Llobregat where I spend most of my free time. Last but not least, I am a big fan of Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona.
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the cosmology group at IFAE. I study the largest structures in the Universe, the so-called cosmic voids, and cross correlate their locations with the most ancient form of light in the Universe, the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. I am interested in challenging the Dark Energy paradigm with non-standard observations.
In my thesis, I extended my previous work on CMB statistics and then focused on cross-correlation measurements between the galaxy maps created from the WISE survey and CMB maps of the Planck mission to detect the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (ISW). In particular, I focused on the largest underdensities, or supervoids, and discovered the significant Eridanus supervoid aligned with the infamous Cold Spot anomaly in the CMB.
At IFAE, I continue studying the largest supervoids and their srtange ISW imprints using new data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). I am the co-leader of the voids analysis team in DES. I am also an active member of the voids research group in the Euclid collaboration that aims to prepare for this future survey.
Imprint of DES superstructures on the cosmic microwave background
A. Kovács C. Sánchez J. García-Bellido S. Nadathur R. Crittenden D. Gruen D. Huterer D. Bacon J. Clampitt J. DeRose S. Dodelson E. Gaztañaga B. Jain D. Kirk O. Lahav R. Miquel K. Naidoo J. A. Peacock B. Soergel L. Whiteway F. B. Abdalla S. Allam J. Annis A. Benoit-Lévy E. Bertin D. Brooks E. Buckley-Geer A. Carnero Rosell M. Carrasco Kind J. Carretero C. E. Cunha C. B. D'Andrea L. N. da Costa D. L. DePoy S. Desai T. F. Eifler D. A. Finley B. Flaugher P. Fosalba J. Frieman T. Giannantonio D. A. Goldstein R. A. Gruendl G. Gutierrez D. J. James K. Kuehn N. Kuropatkin J. L. Marshall P. Melchior F. Menanteau B. Nord R. Ogando A. A. Plazas A. K. Romer E. Sanchez V. Scarpine I. Sevilla-Noarbe F. Sobreira E. Suchyta M. Swanson G. Tarle D. Thomas A. R. Walker
Cosmic voids and void lensing in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data
C. Sánchez, J. Clampitt, A. Kovacs, B. Jain, J. García-Bellido, S. Nadathur, D. Gruen, N. Hamaus, D. Huterer, P. Vielzeuf, A. Amara, C. Bonnett, J. DeRose, W. G. Hartley, M. Jarvis, O. Lahav, R. Miquel, E. Rozo, E. S. Rykoff, E. Sheldon, R. H. Wechsler, J. Zuntz, T. M. C. Abbott, F. B. Abdalla, J. Annis, A. Benoit-Lévy, G. M. Bernstein, R. A. Bernstein, E. Bertin, D. Brooks, E. Buckley-Geer, A. Carnero Rosell, M. Carrasco Kind, J. Carretero, M. Crocce, C. E. Cunha, C. B. D'Andrea, L. N. da Costa, S. Desai, H. T. Diehl, J. P. Dietrich, P. Doel, A. E. Evrard, A. Fausti Neto, B. Flaugher, P. Fosalba, J. Frieman, E. Gaztanaga, R. A. Gruendl, G. Gutierrez, K. Honscheid, D. J. James, E. Krause, K. Kuehn, M. Lima, M. A. G. Maia, J. L. Marshall, P. Melchior, A. A. Plazas, K. Reil, A. K. Romer, E. Sanchez, M. Schubnell, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, R. C. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, F. Sobreira, E. Suchyta, G. Tarle, D. Thomas, A. R. Walker, J. Weller
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
DES Collaboration: T. M. C. Abbott, F. B. Abdalla, A. Alarcon, J. Aleksić, S. Allam, S. Allen, A. Amara, J. Annis, J. Asorey, S. Avila, D. Bacon, E. Balbinot, M. Banerji, N. Banik, W. Barkhouse, M. Baumer, E. Baxter, K. Bechtol, M. R. Becker, A. Benoit-Lévy, B. A. Benson, G. M. Bernstein, E. Bertin, J. Blazek, S. L. Bridle, D. Brooks, D. Brout, E. Buckley-Geer, D. L. Burke, M. T. Busha, D. Capozzi, A. Carnero Rosell, M. Carrasco Kind, J. Carretero, F. J. Castander, R. Cawthon, C. Chang, N. Chen, M. Childress, A. Choi, C. Conselice, R. Crittenden, M. Crocce, C. E. Cunha, C. B. D'Andrea, L. N. da Costa, R. Das, T. M. Davis, C. Davis, J. De Vicente, D. L. DePoy, J. DeRose, S. Desai, H. T. Diehl, J. P. Dietrich, S. Dodelson, P. Doel, A. Drlica-Wagner, T. F. Eifler, A. E. Elliott, F. Elsner, J. Elvin-Poole, J. Estrada, A. E. Evrard, Y. Fang, E. Fernandez, A. Ferté, D. A. Finley, B. Flaugher, P. Fosalba, O. Friedrich, J. Frieman, J. García-Bellido, M. Garcia-Fernandez, M. Gatti, E. Gaztanaga, D. W. Gerdes, T. Giannantonio, M. S. S. Gill, K. Glazebrook, D. A. Goldstein, D. Gruen, R. A. Gruendl, J. Gschwend, G. Gutierrez, S. Hamilton, W. G. Hartley, S. R. Hinton, K. Honscheid, B. Hoyle, D. Huterer, B. Jain, D. J. James, M. Jarvis, T. Jeltema, M. D. Johnson, M. W. G. Johnson, T. Kacprzak, S. Kent, A. G. Kim, A. King, D. Kirk, N. Kokron, A. Kovacs, E. Krause, C. Krawiec, A. Kremin, K. Kuehn, S. Kuhlmann, N. Kuropatkin, F. Lacasa, O. Lahav, T. S. Li, A. R. Liddle, C. Lidman, M. Lima, H. Lin, N. MacCrann, M. A. G. Maia, M. Makler, M. Manera, M. March, J. L. Marshall, P. Martini, R. G. McMahon, P. Melchior, F. Menanteau, R. Miquel, V. Miranda, D. Mudd, J. Muir, A. Möller, E. Neilsen, R. C. Nichol, B. Nord, P. Nugent, R. L. C. Ogando, A. Palmese, J. Peacock, H.V. Peiris, J. Peoples, W. J. Percival, D. Petravick, A. A. Plazas, A. Porredon, J. Prat, A. Pujol, M. M. Rau, A. Refregier, P. M. Ricker, N. Roe, R. P. Rollins, A. K. Romer, A. Roodman, R. Rosenfeld, A. J. Ross, E. Rozo, E. S. Rykoff, M. Sako, A. I. Salvador, S. Samuroff, C. Sánchez, E. Sanchez, B. Santiago, V. Scarpine, R. Schindler, D. Scolnic, L. F. Secco, S. Serrano, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, E. Sheldon, R. C. Smith, M. Smith, J. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, F. Sobreira, E. Suchyta, G. Tarle, D. Thomas, M. A. Troxel, D. L. Tucker, B. E. Tucker, S. A. Uddin, T. N. Varga, P. Vielzeuf, V. Vikram, A. K. Vivas, A. R. Walker, M. Wang, R. H. Wechsler, J. Weller, W. Wester, R. C. Wolf, B. Yanny, F. Yuan, A. Zenteno, B. Zhang, Y. Zhang, J. Zuntz
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Curved-Sky Weak Lensing Mass Map
C. Chang, A. Pujol, B. Mawdsley, D. Bacon, J. Elvin-Poole, P. Melchior, A. Kovács, B. Jain, B. Leistedt, T. Giannantonio, A. Alarcon, E. Baxter, K. Bechtol, M. R. Becker, A. Benoit-Lévy, G. M. Bernstein, C. Bonnett, M. T. Busha, A. Carnero Rosell, F. J. Castander, R. Cawthon, L. N. da Costa, C. Davis, J. De Vicente, J. DeRose, A. Drlica-Wagner, P. Fosalba, M. Gatti, E. Gaztanaga, D. Gruen, J. Gschwend, W. G. Hartley, B. Hoyle, E. M. Huff, M. Jarvis, N. Jeffrey, T. Kacprzak, H. Lin, N. MacCrann, M. A. G. Maia, R. L. C. Ogando, J. Prat, M. M. Rau, R. P. Rollins, A. Roodman, E. Rozo, E. S. Rykoff, S. Samuroff, C. Sánchez, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, E. Sheldon, M. A. Troxel, T. N. Varga, P. Vielzeuf, V. Vikram, R. H. Wechsler, J. Zuntz, T. M. C. Abbott, F. B. Abdalla, S. Allam, J. Annis, E. Bertin, D. Brooks, E. Buckley-Geer, D. L. Burke, M. Carrasco Kind, J. Carretero, M. Crocce, C. E. Cunha, C. B. D'Andrea, S. Desai, H. T. Diehl, J. P. Dietrich, P. Doel, J. Estrada, A. Fausti Neto, E. Fernandez, B. Flaugher, J. Frieman, J. García-Bellido, R. A. Gruendl, G. Gutierrez, K. Honscheid, D. J. James, T. Jeltema, M. W. G. Johnson, M. D. Johnson, S. Kent, D. Kirk, E. Krause, K. Kuehn, S. Kuhlmann, O. Lahav, T. S. Li, M. Lima, M. March, P. Martini, F. Menanteau, R. Miquel, J. J. Mohr, E. Neilsen, R. C. Nichol, D. Petravick, A. A. Plazas, A. K. Romer, M. Sako, E. Sanchez, V. Scarpine, M. Schubnell, M. Smith, R. C. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, F. Sobreira, E. Suchyta, G. Tarle, D. Thomas, D. L. Tucker, A. R. Walker, W. Wester, Y. Zhang (DES Collaboration)
Detection of a supervoid aligned with the cold spot of the cosmic microwave background
István Szapudi, András Kovács, Benjamin R. Granett, Zsolt Frei, Joseph Silk, Will Burgett, Shaun Cole, Peter W. Draper, Daniel J. Farrow, Nicholas Kaiser, Eugene A. Magnier, Nigel Metcalfe, Jeffrey S. Morgan, Paul Price, John Tonry, Richard Wainscoat
See CV for complete List
The integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprint of supervoids
Dark Universe 2017, Munich, Germany
11/10/2017 [Link]
The ISW imprint of supervoids: from simulations to BOSS, DES, and Euclid data
Meeting on Fundamental Cosmology at CEFCA, Teruel, Spain
12/09/2017 [Link]
Imprint of DES super-structures in the Cosmic Microwave Background
Dark Energy Survey Collaboration meeting, Stanford University/SLAC, Palo Alto, CA, USA
09/05/2016 [Link]
Cosmic troublemakers: the Cold Spot, the Eridanus Supervoid, and the Great Walls
Statistical Challenges in 21st Century Cosmology, Chania, Greece
24/05/2016 [Link]
Detection of a Supervoid Aligned with the Cold Spot of the Cosmic Microwave Background
WISE at 5: Legacy and Prospects, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA
10/02/2015 [Link]
Cross-correlation of WISE Galaxies with WMAP and Planck
Ripples in the Cosmos, Durham, UK
22/07/2013 [Link]
CMB lensing vs. ISW imprint of voids
Euclid galaxy clustering meeting, Barcelona, Spain
12/02/2017 [Link]
ISW with voids, and connections to the Cold Spot
Dark Energy Survey collaboration meeting, Chicago, IL, USA
12/06/2017 [Link]
ISW with troughs and peaks
Dark Energy Survey collaboration meeting, Cambridge, UK
12/12/2016 [Link]
Probing the ISW imprint of “photo-z voids” with SDSS, Pan-STARRS1, and DES
Theoretical cosmology seminar, Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, Portsmouth, UK
13/01/2016 [Link]
Participation in a student video project about dark matter
2017 [Link]
Special video report on my Campus Hungary fellowship at the University of Hawaii
2014 [Link]
"The changing properties of galaxies" - supervision of high-school student Queralt Portell
Queralt won a prize with our project and represented Spain at Intel ISEF 2017.
2016 [Link]
"The cosmic web"
Presentation and hands-on exercises for students participating IFAE's Bojos per la Física event
2017 [Link]
Various articles about my discovery of the largest supervoid in our cosmic neighborhood that is related to the Cold Spot anomaly in the CMB
Covered by Scientific American, New Scientist, Sky & Telescope, The Guardian, etc
2014- [Link]
Andras Kovacs
Observational Cosmology Group
Post-Doc