Decoding the Dark Universe: From the Big Bang to Large Scales

Note: 2:00 PM
Speaker: Rafael Porto, ICTP

When: February 17, 2015 (Tue), 02:00PM to 03:00PM (add to my calendar)
Location: PRB 595

This event is part of the HET Seminar Series.

Abstract: In spite of the recent remarkable achievements in observational cosmology, several questions about the primordial seed of structure remain open. Perhaps the most outstanding one is whether the canonical framework involving a (weakly coupled) fundamental scalar field played the role of the `Higgs mechanism' in the early universe, or if the anisotropies we observe today have a different origin within the inflationary paradigm. After introducing the bottom up, or effective field theory (EFT), approach to the dynamics of the early universe, I will discuss the existence of theoretical thresholds that become natural observational targets to test physics beyond the canonical framework. Then, I will describe what we may learn about inflation from future experiments, and overview an ongoing program (based on using EFT methods to produce accurate analytic predictions on large scales) to approach these thresholds using data from large scale structure (LSS) surveys. Concluding, I will briefly describe how the EFT approach to LSS may also allow us to constrain models of dark energy and dark matter.