Cosmology

Cosmologists at Perimeter Institute seek to help pin down the constituents and history of our universe, and the rules governing its origin and evolution. Many of the most interesting clues about physics beyond the standard model (e.g., dark matter, dark energy, the matter/anti-matter asymmetry, and the spectrum of primordial density perturbations], come from cosmological observations, and cosmological observations are often the best way to test or constrain a proposed modification of the laws of nature, since such observations can probe length scales, time scales, and energy scales that are beyond the reach of terrestrial laboratories.

Displaying 1045 - 1056 of 2111

Inflation After Planck
March 18, 2014

PIRSA:14030116
Cosmology
SDSS-III BOSS and Beyond: fundamental physics with galaxy redshift surveys

Beth Reid
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
March 11, 2014

PIRSA:14030096
Cosmology
Cosmology Results from the Pan-STARRs Supernova Survey

Danial Scolnic
Johns Hopkins University
March 04, 2014

PIRSA:14030095
Cosmology
Large Tensor-to-Scalar Ratio in Small-Field Inflation

Takeshi Kobayashi
SISSA International School for Advanced Studies
February 25, 2014

PIRSA:14020152
Particle Physics

Cosmology
Probing the Small Scale Structure of Dark Matter with Indirect Detection

Sheldon Campbell
Ohio State University
February 25, 2014

PIRSA:14020097
Cosmology
Quantum Many-body Dynamics with Matrix Product States

Martin Ganahl
Sandbox AQ
February 24, 2014

PIRSA:14020156
Cosmology

Condensed Matter
Evolution of cosmological black holes: exact solutions, accretion and scalar fields

Daniel Guariento
Conestoga College
February 18, 2014

PIRSA:14020150
Cosmology
Our Lopsided Universe

Marina Cortes
Institute for Astrophysics and Space Sciences
February 11, 2014

PIRSA:14020139
Cosmology
The National Ignition Facility (NIF):Pathway to Energy Security and Physics of the Cosmos

Edward Moses
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
February 05, 2014

PIRSA:14020098
Cosmology
Cosmological constraints on complex scalar-field dark matter

Tanja Rindler-Daller
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
February 04, 2014

PIRSA:14020096
Cosmology
New light on 21cm intensity fluctuations from the dark ages
January 28, 2014

PIRSA:14010097
Cosmology
Cosmic Variance from Superhorizon Mode Coupling

Elliot Nelson
January 23, 2014

PIRSA:14010107
Cosmology

Inflation After Planck
March 18, 2014

PIRSA:14030116
Cosmology
The Planck satellite measurement of the cosmic microwave background has provided spectacular confirmation of the predictions of inflationary cosmology, putting inflation on a firm footing as the leading theory of the very early universe. I will discuss the implications of Planck for the simplest canonical single-field inflation models, which are favored by the data. Then I will discuss the most general question: How strong is the case that inflation is the "right" theory of the early universe?
SDSS-III BOSS and Beyond: fundamental physics with galaxy redshift surveys

Beth Reid
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
March 11, 2014

PIRSA:14030096
Cosmology
The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, now nearly complete, is measuring the three-dimensional cosmic structure with 1.35 million new redshifts. Galaxy clustering measurements provide constraints on the cosmic expansion history through the baryon acoustic oscillation feature and the Alcock-Paczynski effect. In addition, the imprint of galaxy peculiar velocities on the observed galaxy clustering, "redshift-space distortions", provides a measurement of the growth rate of matter perturbations. Taken together, these measurements provide excellent constraints on dark energy and test the relation between expansion history and growth of perturbations expected in General Relativity. I will summarize results from BOSS's recent DR11 results and highlight what we may learn about fundamental physics (especially neutrinos) from the upcoming Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI).
Cosmology Results from the Pan-STARRs Supernova Survey

Danial Scolnic
Johns Hopkins University
March 04, 2014

PIRSA:14030095
Cosmology
The Pan-STARRs supernova survey has discovered one of the largest samples of Type Ia supernovae. Measurements of the distances to these supernovae allow us to probe some of the most fundamental questions about the properties of the universe like what is dark energy. When combining measurements from various astrophysical probes, we find hints of interesting tension with the Lambda-CDM model. I discuss the various combinations of astrophysical probes and the source of this tension. It is possible that this tension is due to systematic uncertainties in the various measurements, and I show how we analyze these uncertainties in the Pan-STARRs sample.
Large Tensor-to-Scalar Ratio in Small-Field Inflation

Takeshi Kobayashi
SISSA International School for Advanced Studies
February 25, 2014

PIRSA:14020152
Particle Physics

Cosmology
The production of gravitational waves from cosmic inflation > is normally bounded by the inflaton field excursion. This relation, > which is often referred to as the Lyth bound, claims that > observationally large gravitational waves are produced only if the > inflaton has a super-Planckian field range. In this talk I will point > out that this general belief is not necessarily true when there are > additional light fields producing density perturbations. Perturbations > seeded by the inflaton can be suppressed under such situations, thus > allow large gravitational waves to be produced even from small-field (i.e. > sub-Planckian) inflation. I will also show that the field bound is > taken over by the light field when the inflaton-induced perturbations > are suppressed, thus present a generalized form of the Lyth bound that > applies to the total field space. The calculations are rather simple, > so I will explain my work on a blackboard.
Probing the Small Scale Structure of Dark Matter with Indirect Detection

Sheldon Campbell
Ohio State University
February 25, 2014

PIRSA:14020097
Cosmology
Direct observation of the small scale structure of matter in the Universe provides potentially important information about a wealth of physics, from complex galaxy evolution processes to fundamental particle properties of dark matter. Detecting this fine structure in dark matter, though, is notoriously difficult. Dark matter indirect detection--through observation of radiation products of particle annihilation--may be the most direct method for observing small scale structure. However, in an observed signal, the amount of dark matter clustering is degenerate with the annihilation cross section. This talk outlines ways this degeneracy may be broken with indirect detection alone. Scenarios are discussed where either abundant substructure leads to discovery of annihilation radiation (revealing properties of the substructure), or a discovery strongly constrains the presence of significant dark matter halo substructure.
Quantum Many-body Dynamics with Matrix Product States

Martin Ganahl
Sandbox AQ
February 24, 2014

PIRSA:14020156
Cosmology

Condensed Matter
The talk is divided into two parts: in the first, I will talk about dynamics of far-from equilibrium initial states in different lattice models. I will present results of quench dynamics of the XXZ-Heisenberg magnet, where interesting physics emerges after quenching the system. Then I will present results for scattering of solitonic objects in different integrable and non-integrable lattice models. In the second part, I will talk about dynamics of impurity systems. There I will talk about how impurity spectral functions can be calculated using the Chebyshev technique, and how MPS can serve as a high resolution impurity solver for Dynamical Mean-Field Theory. Finally, I will show some results for steady-state currents through a quantum dot device.
Evolution of cosmological black holes: exact solutions, accretion and scalar fields

Daniel Guariento
Conestoga College
February 18, 2014

PIRSA:14020150
Cosmology
Systems which contemplate the gravitational interaction between compact objects and the matter content in a cosmological environment constitute an important problem which has been studied since the early days of General Relativity. The generalized McVittie black hole is a simple exact solution to this problem, which provides us with insight on some of its known physical aspects, as well as hints to new mechanisms which arise from a formal treatment. We review some properties of this solution and its matter source, which can be interpreted as a classical fluid but is also an exact solution to a nontrivial scalar field theory.
Our Lopsided Universe

Marina Cortes
Institute for Astrophysics and Space Sciences
February 11, 2014

PIRSA:14020139
Cosmology
After a short introduction to open inflation and the observed large-scale cosmic microwave anomalies, which have been confirmed by the Planck satellite, I'll argue that the anomalies are naturally explained in the context of a marginally-open, negatively curved universe. I'll look in particular at the dipole power asymmetry, and motivate that this asymmetry can happen if our universe has bubble nucleated in a phase transition during a period of early inflation, and, as a result, has open geometry. Open inflation models, which are motivated by the string landscape and can excite `super-curvature' perturbation modes, can explain the presence of a very-large-scale perturbation, like the one we observe, which leads to a dipole modulation of the power spectrum. I'll provide a specific implementation of the scenario which is compatible with all existing constraints.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF):Pathway to Energy Security and Physics of the Cosmos

Edward Moses
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
February 05, 2014

PIRSA:14020098
Cosmology
NIF is the world's most energetic laser system capable of producing over 1.8 MJ and 500 TW of ultraviolet light, about 100 times more than any other operating laser of its kind. This talk describes the unprecedented experimental capabilities of NIF, its role in fundamental science, the pathway to achieving fusion ignition and energy security missions, and the status of progress in these areas.
Cosmological constraints on complex scalar-field dark matter

Tanja Rindler-Daller
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
February 04, 2014

PIRSA:14020096
Cosmology
The nature of dark matter is a fundamental problem in cosmology and particle physics. Many particle candidates have been devised over the course of the last decades, and are still at stake to be soon discovered or rejected. However, astronomical observations, in conjunction with the phenomenological efforts in astrophysical modeling, as well as in particle theories to explain them, have helped to pin down several key properties which any successful candidate has to have. In this talk, I will explore the possibility that dark matter is described by a complex scalar field (SFDM), while the other cosmic components are treated in the usual way, assuming a cosmological constant for the dark energy. We will see that the background evolution of a Universe with SFDM and a cosmological constant (LSFDM) complies with the concordance LCDM model, if the model parameters of the SFDM Lagrangian, mass and repulsive 2-particle self-interaction coupling strength, are properly constrained by observations of the cosmic microwave background and Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). However, not only does LSFDM lead to non-standard expansion histories prior to BBN, it also exemplifies differences at small scales, which could help to resolve the discrepancies found between LCDM and certain galaxy observations. I will highlight the differences between complex SFDM and dark matter described by real fields, as for instance axion-like particles. If time permits, I will also talk about possible implementations of SFDM in the very early Universe, in the wake of its inflationary phase.
New light on 21cm intensity fluctuations from the dark ages
January 28, 2014

PIRSA:14010097
Cosmology
Fluctuations of the 21 cm brightness temperature before the formation of the first stars hold the promise of becoming a high-precision cosmological probe in the future. The growth of over densities is very well described by perturbation theory at that epoch and the signal can in principle be predicted to arbitrary accuracy for given cosmological parameters. Recently, Tseliakhovich and Hirata pointed out a previously neglected and important physical effect, due to the fact that baryons and cold dark matter (CDM) have supersonic relative velocities after recombination. This relative velocity suppresses the growth of matter fluctuations on scales k∼10−10^3 Mpc^−1. In addition, the amplitude of the small-scale power spectrum is modulated on the large scales over which the relative velocity varies, corresponding to k∼0.005−1 Mpc^−1. In this talk, I will describe the effect of the relative velocity on 21 cm brightness temperature fluctuations from redshifts z≥30. I will show that the 21 cm power spectrum is affected on most scales. On small scales, the signal is typically suppressed several tens of percent, except for extremely small scales (k≳2000 Mpc−1) for which the fluctuations are boosted by resonant excitation of acoustic waves. On large scales, 21 cm fluctuations are enhanced due to the non-linear dependence of the brightness temperature on the underlying gas density and temperature. The enhancement of the 21 cm power spectrum is of a few percent at k∼0.1 Mpc−1 and up to tens of percent at k≲0.005 Mpc−1, for standard ΛCDM cosmology. In principle this effect allows to probe the small-scale matter power spectrum not only through a measurement of small angular scales but also through its effect on large angular scales.
Cosmic Variance from Superhorizon Mode Coupling

Elliot Nelson
January 23, 2014

PIRSA:14010107
Cosmology
We observe a finite subvolume of the universe, so CMB and large scale structure data may give us either a representative or a biased sample of statistics in the larger universe. Mode coupling (non-Gaussianity) in the primordial perturbations can introduce a bias of parameters measured in any subvolume due to coupling to superhorizon background modes longer than the size of the subvolume. This leads to a "cosmic variance" of statistics on smaller scales, as the long-wavelength background modes vary around the global mean. We study this bias for local non-Gaussianity and quantify how observed statistics such as the power spectrum of the primordial perturbations, spectral index (scale-dependence in the power spectrum), amplitude of non-Gaussianity, dark matter halo power spectrum, and primordial tensor modes, can differ from the same quantities averaged throughout a volume much larger than the observable universe. More general kinds of mode coupling can change the relative sensitivity to different background modes. Finally, we consider what observations can tell us about the possibility of biasing from superhorizon modes."

Title	Speaker(s)	Date	Talk Type	Info link
Inflation After Planck		2014-03-18	Scientific Series	View details
SDSS-III BOSS and Beyond: fundamental physics with galaxy redshift surveys	Beth Reid	2014-03-11	Scientific Series	View details
Cosmology Results from the Pan-STARRs Supernova Survey	Danial Scolnic	2014-03-04	Scientific Series	View details
Large Tensor-to-Scalar Ratio in Small-Field Inflation	Takeshi Kobayashi	2014-02-25	Scientific Series	View details
Probing the Small Scale Structure of Dark Matter with Indirect Detection	Sheldon Campbell	2014-02-25	Scientific Series	View details
Quantum Many-body Dynamics with Matrix Product States	Martin Ganahl	2014-02-24	Scientific Series	View details
Evolution of cosmological black holes: exact solutions, accretion and scalar fields	Daniel Guariento	2014-02-18	Scientific Series	View details
Our Lopsided Universe	Marina Cortes	2014-02-11	Scientific Series	View details
The National Ignition Facility (NIF):Pathway to Energy Security and Physics of the Cosmos	Edward Moses	2014-02-05	Scientific Series	View details
Cosmological constraints on complex scalar-field dark matter	Tanja Rindler-Daller	2014-02-04	Scientific Series	View details
New light on 21cm intensity fluctuations from the dark ages		2014-01-28	Scientific Series	View details
Cosmic Variance from Superhorizon Mode Coupling	Elliot Nelson	2014-01-23	Scientific Series	View details

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