Looking for Dark Energy in the Distribution of Galaxies

It is unknown whether the universe will continue to expand, or whether it will hit a maximum size and begin to contract.  Whether it will continue expanding, or begin to contract depends on the amounts of the components that make up the Universe; the components being baryonic matter, radiation, dark matter and dark energy.  Large scale structure in the universe arises from the interplay of gravitational forces.  The first three components tend to cluster masses, and the last component acts oppositely, spreading the distance between two points. These two circumstances--contraction due to gravity and expansion due to dark energy--seem to imply opposites, if we can understand large scale structure, then perhaps we can say something about the dynamical forces involved.  The intent of this research project is to answer the question: can we determine when dark energy became the dominant force in the Universe?  The effects of the acceleration of expansion will be shown in the distribution of the galaxies, thus, a wavelet transform, and the use of fractals will be implemented to understand the galaxy distribution.  The data we will use is from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and we will look for qualitative changes in the fractal dimension to detect the point at which dark energy becomes dominant.  With enough information about how all the types of matter in the universe are interacting, it can be an indication whether the universe’s expansion will continue, or eventually regress.