Cosmological observations have provided us with answers to age-old questions, involving the age, geometry, and composition of the universe. However, there are profound questions that still remain unanswered. The origin of the small anisotropies that later grew into the stars and galaxies that we see today is still unknown. In this talk, I will explain how we can use measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which was last scattered when the universe was 380,000 years old, to reconstruct the detailed physics of much earlier epochs, when the universe was only a tiny fraction of a second old. I will also discuss the potential of current and upcoming measurements of the large-scale structure of the universe to further constrain the physics underlying inflation.
1080 Physics Research Building - Smith Seminar Room - reception at 3:45pm in the Atrium Department of Physics physics@osu.edu America/New_York publicCosmological observations have provided us with answers to age-old questions, involving the age, geometry, and composition of the universe. However, there are profound questions that still remain unanswered. The origin of the small anisotropies that later grew into the stars and galaxies that we see today is still unknown. In this talk, I will explain how we can use measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which was last scattered when the universe was 380,000 years old, to reconstruct the detailed physics of much earlier epochs, when the universe was only a tiny fraction of a second old. I will also discuss the potential of current and upcoming measurements of the large-scale structure of the universe to further constrain the physics underlying inflation.
