College of Arts and Sciences

Several mechanisms can lead to production of particles during primordial inflation. I will review how such a phenomenon occurs and I will discuss how it can lead to the generation of tensor modes with unusual properties that might be detected in the not-so-far future. The gravitational waves produced this way can have a larger amplitude than in the standard scenarios, can violate parity, and their spectrum can display a feature that can be directly detected within the decade by second-generation gravitational interferometers such as advanced LIGO.

Continue reading… Odd tensor modes from particle production during inflation – Lorenzo Sorbo

Compact binary systems composed of black holes and neutron stars are among the most promising sources for ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and its international partners. A detailed and accurate understanding of the shape of the gravitational waves is crucial not only for the initial detection of such sources, but also for maximizing the information that can be obtained from the gravitational-wave signals once they are observed. In this talk I will review progresses at the interface between analytical and numerical relativity. These advances have deepened our understanding of the two-body problem in general relativity,

Continue reading… Advances in Solving the Two-Body Problem in General Relativity: Implications for the Search of Gravitational Waves – Alessandra Buonanno

In this talk I will present the low-energy effective field theory that describes the infrared dynamics of non-dissipative fluids. In particular, I will use the techniques of non-linear realizations developed by Callan, Coleman, Wess and Zumino, and Volkov to construct the effective theory based on the symmetry-breaking pattern of the fluid. I will discuss how this formalism can be used to incorporate quantum anomalies into the effective field theory.

Continue reading… Effective Field Theory for Fluids – Rachel Rosen

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment (CDMS II) was designed to directly detect dark matter by simultaneously measuring phonon and ionization signals caused by particle interactions in semiconductor targets, allowing event-by-event discrimination of signal from background via the relative sizes of the two signals. I’ll briefly review the CDMS II experiment and then focus on recent results related to the current low-mass WIMP controversy, including data from the CoGeNT, CRESST II, and DAMA/LIBRA experiments that hint at a low-mass WIMP signal and the (similarly sensitive) low-threshold and annual-modulation analyses performed by the CDMS II collaboration. I’ll also comment on the Collar and Fields likelihood analysis of the CDMS II low-energy data.

Continue reading… Recent Results from CDMS II and The SuperCDMS Dark-matter Program – Raymond Bunker

Chameleon gravity is a scalar-tensor theory that mimics general relativity in the Solar System. The scalar degree of freedom is hidden in high-density environments because the effective mass of the chameleon scalar depends on the trace of the stress-energy tensor. In the early Universe, when the trace of the stress-energy tensor is nearly zero, the chameleon is very light and Hubble friction prevents it from reaching its potential minimum. Whenever a particle species becomes non-relativistic, however, the trace of the stress energy tensor is temporarily nonzero, and the chameleon begins to roll. I will show that these “kicks” to the chameleon field have catastrophic consequences for chameleon gravity.

Continue reading… Kicking Chameleons: Early Universe Challenges for Chameleon Gravity – Adrienne Erickcek

We know very little about primordial curvature perturbations on scales smaller than about a Mpc. I review how mu-type distortion of the Cosmic Microwave Background spectrum provides the unique opportunity to probe these scales over the unexplored range from 50 to $104 Mpc-1$. This is a very clean probe, in that it relies only on well-understood linear evolution. While mu-distortion by itself can constrain the amount of power on small scales, correlations between mu-distortion and temperature anisotropies can be used to test Gaussianity. In particular the muT cross correlation is proportional to the very squeezed limit of the primordial bispectrum and hence measures $f_NL$ local,

Continue reading… A new window on primordial non-Gaussianity – Enrico Pajer

The most surprising discovery in cosmology since Edwin Hubble observed the expansion of the Universe isthat the rate of this expansion is accelerating. This either signals that a mysterious Dark Energy dominatesthe energy density of the Universe, or that our understanding of gravity on large scales is incorrect. The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) will produce the largest volume astronomical survey to date, potentially unlocking the mysteries the dark-energy driven expansion history of the Universe. The CHIME telescope forms an image of the entire over-head sky each night by digitally processing the information received on a compact array of 2500 radio receivers.

Continue reading… The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) – a new tool to probe the dark energy driven expansion history of the universe from z=1-3 – Matt Dobbs

I will describe the effects of non-trivial initial quantum states for inflationary fluctuations within the context of the effective field theory for inflation. We find that besides giving rise to large non-Gaussianities from inflation, general initial states can also have interesting implications for the consistency relation of the bispectrum. In addition, they leave a distinct observable signature on the scale-dependence of the bias of dark matter halos. I will also discuss constraints on the initial state from current large scale structure data, including luminous red galaxies and quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey sample.

Continue reading… Non-Gaussianity from general inflationary states – Nishant Agarwal

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), photons from the earliest epoch that are able to free stream towards us, provides a unique opportunity to learn about many properties of the universe we live in. Already, the temperature fluctuations of the CMB have been studied by the Wilkinson Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and have allowed many cosmological parameters to be pinned down to within a percent error. However, there are many more mysteries to be uncovered by precise measurements of the CMB polarization of these photons and weak lensing fields. Only with a robust understanding of the possible contaminants and astrophysical effects that can deform the measured fields will we be able to accurately characterize which models are favored over others.

Continue reading… Boosting the Universe: Observational consequences of our motion – Amanda Yoho

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Continue reading… The interplay between high and low redshift universe – Azadeh Moradinezhad Dizgah