Talks

There is more matter than antimatter in the universe. This asymmetry requires three conditions: 1- Baryon (or lepton) number violation, 2- C and CP violation and 3- out-of-thermal equilibrium conditions in the early universe, before BBN. Although the SM does not have any out-of-equilibrium process, it does provide baryon number violation and CP violation. Still, it is commonly accepted that the SM CP violation is not enough for producing the observed baryon asymmetry. I will present one new physics model in which the SM CP violation, that is measured in the B meson system, is in fact enough to generate the baryon asymmetry. 

The 21-cm line from neutral hydrogen holds immense potential as a probe of early astrophysics and cosmic evolution. Realizing the potential of this observational probe, however, is limited by our ability to control systematic effects in the data and model the cosmological 21-cm signal. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the observational prospects made possible through the cosmic 21-cm signal and discuss the challenges confronting interferometric experiments that are targeting a high-redshift detection. I will focus on recent developments from the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), covering our latest upper limits on the 21-cm power spectrum and their implications for early X-ray heating of the intergalactic medium. I will additionally discuss our latest efforts to understand and mitigate mutual coupling, a complex systematic effect in the data that threatens to thwart our efforts to detect the cosmological 21-cm signal. I will conclude by discussing the path forward with HERA, with a preliminary view of what to expect from forthcoming analyses.