Found 25 talks width keyword early universe

We will review both theoretical and obsevational aspects of gravitational wave backgrounds of cosmological origin. We will present a classifcation of backgrounds and a quantification of our ability to use them as a probe of early Universe phenomena, opening a new observational window to energy scales well above the reach of any terrestrial means. Our discussion will include the latest results from Pulsar Timing Array collaborations (e.g., Nanograv), which have recently anounced the first evidence on the existence of a background of gravitational waves. This talk wll be given in a Colloquium style, making it accessible to a wide audience of physicists. 

Simons Observatory (SO) is a new Cosmic Microwave Background telescope currently under construction in the Atacama Desert, close to ALMA and other recent CMB telescopes. It will have six small aperture (42cm) telescopes (SATs), and one large aperture (6m) telescope (LAT), observing at 30-280GHz (1-10mm) using transition edge sensors (TES) and kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). As well as observing the polarisation of the CMB to unprecedented sensitivity, the LAT will perform a constant survey at higher angular resolution, enabling the systematic detection of transient sources in the submm, with large overlap of optical surveys such as LSST, DESI and DES. As well as giving an overview of SO, I summarise the types of transient sources that are expected to be seen by SO, including flaring stars, quasars, asteroids, and man-made satellites.

The formation of the first galaxies in the Universe is the new frontier of both galaxy formation and reionization studies. In fact, we will soon directly observe primeval galaxies thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, and witness the reionization process through 21cm intensity mapping experiments. This unique moment in human history creates a fierce new challenge, i.e. to simultaneously understand in a unique and coherent picture the processes of galaxy formation and reionization, and – crucially – their connection. The latter, in particular, has escaped past numerical efforts. In this talk I will present the first results on this front from an years-long effort geared toward achieving such comprehensive picture, culminated in the Thesan suite of cosmological radiation-magneto-hydrodynamical simulations. I will briefly introduce the features of Thesan, highlighting the successes and failures of its physical model. Thesan produces realistic galaxy populations thanks to state-of-the-art physics, including self-consistent dust production+destruction and radiation transport. I will then show how Thesan can, for the first time, reproduce the connection between IGM and galaxies, as measured from the modulation of the Lyman-alpha flux around galaxies. Finally, I will chart the way forward towards and even deeper understanding of the emergence of the first structures in the Universe.

Cosmological observations (redshifts, cosmic microwave background radiation, abundance of light elements, formation and evolution of galaxies, large-scale structure) find explanations within the standard Lambda-CDM model, although many times after a number of ad hoc corrections. Nevertheless, the expression ‘crisis in cosmology’ stubbornly reverberates in the scientific literature: the higher the precision with which the standard cosmological model tries to fit the data, the greater the number of tensions that arise. Moreover, there are alternative explanations for most of the observations. Therefore, cosmological hypotheses should be very cautiously proposed and even more cautiously received.

There are also sociological and philosophical arguments to support this scepticism. Only the standard model is considered by most professional cosmologists, while the challenges of the most fundamental ideas of modern cosmology are usually neglected. Funding, research positions, prestige, telescope time, publication in top journals, citations, conferences, and other resources are dedicated almost exclusively to standard cosmology. Moreover, religious, philosophical, economic, and political ideologies in a world dominated by anglophone culture also influence the contents of cosmological ideas.

In this talk, we shall review the impact of the neutrino properties on the different cosmological observables. We shall also present the latest cosmological constraints on the neutrino masses and on the effective number of relativistic species. Special attention would be devoted to the role of neutrinos in solving the present cosmological tensions.

Cosmological and astrophysical experimental data demark a large share of the limits of our knowledge in fundamental physics. I'll review two pieces of evidence of our ignorance: the nature of dark matter and the generation of baryon asymmetry in the universe, together with some of the proposed solutions to each. Finally, a novel connection between the two open problems will be presented.

A discussion of the first observation ever of gravitational waves. Present detectors, future detectors, and the perspectives for gravitational wave astronomy.

Driven by the potential of large-scale structure (LSS) observations to shed light on the physics behind the accelerated expansion of the Universe, several ground-breaking galaxy surveys are currently under way. These surveys will measure the LSS of the Universe with unprecedented precision, providing new insights not only on the origin of cosmic acceleration, but also on many other important physical parameters. The ongoing Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is an example of these new surveys. In this talk I review our theoretical understanding of LSS and the details of the analysis of these measurements. I also describe the cosmological implications of the latest clustering measurements from BOSS, with an emphasis on the problem of understanding cosmic acceleration.

The first galaxies are thought to have started the reionization of the Universe, that is the transformation of the cosmic hydrogen from its initial neutral to its present ionized state that occurred during the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang. I will review the key physics of reionization by the first galaxies and highlight the computational challenges of simulating the relevant processes, primarily the transport of ionizing photons. I will introduce the radiative transfer method TRAPHIC that we have developed to address these challenges. I will discuss the application of TRAPHIC in zoomed cosmological simulations of the first galaxies and evaluate the prospects for observing these galaxies with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. I will conclude by presenting first results from Aurora, a new suite of simulations to investigate reionization and galaxy formation across a large range of scales.