The Origin of Cosmic Structure

por Dr. Carlos Frenk (University of Durham)

viernes 21 ene. 2005 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Sala Seminarios IFIC (Edf. Institutos de Investigación)

Cosmology confronts some of the most fundamental questions in the whole of science. How and when did our universe begin? What is it made of? How did it acquire its present day appearance? There has been enormous progress in the past few years towards answering these questions. For example, recent observations have established that our universe contains an unexpected mix of components that include not only ordinary atoms, but also exotic dark matter and a new form of energy called dark energy. Observations of the microwave background radiation reveal incipient structure, while gigantic surveys of galaxies, like the recently completed 2-degree-field at the Anglo-Australian Telescope, reveal how the universe is structured today. Large supercomputer simulations can recreate the evolution of the universe and provide the means to relate processes occuring near the beginning of the Universe with the structures seen today. A coherent picture of cosmic evolution, going back to about a micro-second after the Big Bang, is beginning to emerge. However fundamental issues, like the nature of the dark energy, remain unsolved. These will require understanding events that took place at even earlier times.