Particle Physics Seminar : Decoding Primordial Fluctuations

Abstract:

I will review our current understanding of the initial conditions of the universe, and describe what information is available from current and future measurements of cosmological correlation functions. Then I will describe a new method I developed to compute and constrain the possible shapes of those correlation functions, assuming they were generated during an inflationary era. This ``cosmological bootstrap” draws inspiration from the modern scattering amplitudes program in flat space, as well as the conformal bootstrap of phase transitions. A thorough understanding of the fluctuations will give us insight into particle physics at very high energy scales and may provide a window into the nature of spacetime itself.

Seminar Organizers: Dr. Michael Geller & Dr. Adi Ashkanzi