Physics (Internal)

The Planck Satellite Results: a Universe So Big, but So Simple?

This event is part of the Physics Department Colloquia Series.

Abstract: The first cosmological data released from the Planck satellite have provided several new and independent precision tests of the standard cosmological model and are playing a role similar to that played by LEP (Large Electron-Positron Collider) for the standard model of particle physics. I will review the implications of these Planck data for cosmology and particle physics and discuss the status of possible indications for new physics, as well as possible anomalies. After two decades of observations of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background, it seems that mankind understands the large-scale universe well beyond the expectations of the most optimistic physicists of the mid-XXth century."