Title: The Era of Stress-Testing Cosmology

Abstract: We have a fiducial model ("Lambda CDM") that fits all cosmological data. However, it invokes physics -- dark matter, dark energy, and inflation -- that has not been observed in the Lab and has no obvious connection to the Standard Model of particle physics. Further, the simplest version of dark energy is a cosmological constant, which requires unimaginably precise fine-tuning. Surveys are gradually becoming powerful enough to stress test this model at the percent level, with the goal of overturning it and discovering a new cosmological paradigm. I describe some past work along these lines by the Dark Energy Survey along with some ideas for how to extract the most information -- and therefore the most powerful tests -- from current and future surveys.

Astro Colloquium and 'coffee & cookies' department gathering (3:30-3:45pm)

Please click the link to join virtually: https://psu.zoom.us/j/92637070419