Dartmouth Events

Physics & Astronomy - Cosmology Seminar - Xingang Chen, Harvard University

Title: "Primordial Standard Clocks as a Direct Probe of the Scenario of the Primordial Universe"

Thursday, March 1, 2018
2:00pm – 3:30pm
Wilder 202
Intended Audience(s): Public
Categories: Lectures & Seminars
Abstract:
How to observationally distinguish the inflation scenario from other possible alternative-to-inflation scenarios model-independently is an important challenge in modern astrophysics and cosmology. In particular, there has been criticism that the inflationary scenario is not experimentally falsifiable as a whole scenario. In this talk, we show that there are indeed observables, which are present generically in primordial universe models and potentially measurable, to address this challenge. These observables are induced by generic massive fields oscillating either classically or quantum-mechanically in the primordial epoch. These oscillations can be regarded as standard clocks. We show that the signals they induce in the primordial density perturbations directly record the defining property of the primordial universe -- the scale factor of the universe as a function of time, a(t).
For more information, contact:
Tressena Manning
603-646-2854

Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.