Talks, Colloquia

5:00 pm KIP, INF 227, Otto-Haxel-Hörsaal
Prof. Catherine Heymans School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh

New Directions in Cosmology

The Planck space mission has released exquisite observations of the early universe, providing the strongest evidence yet that the universe we live in is very dark indeed. Its precise results show that our universe is composed of 26.6% dark matter and 68.4% dark energy, while less than 5% is made up of the baryonic material that we are familiar with on Earth. With their long-standing quest to make these precision measurements essentially now concluded, cosmologists are rapidly turning their attention to a much bigger and further-reaching question: what is the exact nature of this dark universe? I will introduce the new directions being taken in Cosmology to map out the invisible dark matter and confront theories on the origins of dark energy. Interestingly the increasing precision recently reported in these late-time cosmological measurements reveals tension with Planck’s initial conclusions. Is this a sign that new data challenges lie ahead, or is it our first hint that the universe is truly exotic and that in order to understand the dark universe we will need some new physics that will forever change our cosmic view.

5:00 pm Neues Physikalisches Institut INF 226, Konferenzraum 1-3 (Room 00.101 bis 00.103)
Dr. Louis Helary Physikalisches Institut Heidelberg

Probing Electroweak Symmetry Breaking with Vector Boson Scattering

5:00 pm Kirchhoff-Institut, INF 227 SR 1.403, SR 1.403
Prof. Jean Dalibard Kastler Brossel Laboratory, Collège de France, Paris

Topology and scale invariance in atomic Flatland

4:30 pm Philosophenweg 12, großer Hörsaal
Emily Petroff University of Amsterdam

Fast Radio Bursts: New discoveries and future prospects

Fast radio bursts (FRBs), bright millisecond duration radio transients, are quickly becoming a subject of intense interest in time-domain astronomy. FRBs have the exciting potential to be used as cosmological probes of both matter and fundamental parameters, but such studies require large populations. Advances in FRB detection using current and next-generation radio telescopes will enable the growth of the population in the next few years from 30 to hundreds. Real-time discovery and follow-up, and new studies of the FRB population will provide us with some of the greatest insights in the coming years. I will discuss many observational aspects of the FRB population, including polarisation, searches for multi-wavelength emission, localisation, and repeating FRBs. I will also discuss how our response to these events can inform next generation surveys and pave the way for the enormous number of FRB discoveries expected in the SKA era.