Talks

Given a large landscape of vacua that statistically favors large values of the neutrino mass sum, $m_\nu$, I will present the probability distribution over $m_\nu$ obtained by weighting this prior by the amount of galaxies that are produced. Using Boltzmann codes to compute the smoothed density contrast on Mpc scales, we find that large dark matter halos form abundantly for $m_\nu \gtrsim 10$\,eV. However, in this regime structure forms late and is dominated by cluster scales, as in a top-down scenario. I will argue that this change of regime is catastrophic: baryonic gas will cool too slowly to form stars in an abundance comparable to our universe. Upon implementing this cooling boundary, the anthropic prediction for $m_\nu$ is consistent at better than $2\sigma$ with the entire range of values allowed by current experimental bounds, $58$\,meV $\leq m_\nu \lesssim 0.23$\,eV. A degenerate hierarchy is mildly preferred. Without a catastrophic boundary at or below $10$\,eV, the theoretical expectation would conflict strongly with the observed mass range. Thus the asserted cooling failure can be regarded as a prediction of the anthropic solution to the neutrino mass problem.

Surprisingly, several basic questions in classical and quantum gravity, which were resolved some 40-50 years ago for zero $\Lambda$, still remain open in the $\Lambda >0$ case. In particular, for $\Lambda >0$, we still do not have a satisfactory notion of gravitational radiation or Bondi 4-momentum in exact general relativity, nor a positive energy theorem. Similarly, the standard constructions of `in' and `out' Hilbert spaces that we routinely use (e.g. in the analysis of black hole evaporation) do not extend to the $\Lambda >0$ case. In this talk I will present some illustrative examples of these quandaries and introduce a systematic approach to resolve the open issues.

 

Thanks to the spectacular observational advances since the 1990s, a `standard model' of the early universe has now emerged. However, since it is based on quantum field theory in curved space-times, it is not applicable in the Planck era. Using techniques from loop quantum gravity, the theory can be extended over the 12 orders of magnitude in density and curvature from the onset of inflation all the way back to the Planck regime, providing us with a possible completion of the standard model.

Contrary to a wide-spread belief, the resulting pre-inflationary dynamics can have observational consequences for the longest wave length modes of cosmological perturbations. Thus, there is now an an interesting interplay between fundamental theory and observations. The talk will provide a broad overview of these results addressed to non-experts.

Web-links:

Viewpoint: A glance at the earliest universe; APS Physics Spotlighting Exceptional Research: http://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/142

U tube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFcQuEw0oY8&feature=c4-overview&list=UUtOgK

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