Fundamental Physics and Observational Cosmology
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics
Abstract
We aim to advance the confrontation between observational cosmology and fundamental physics by developing testable signatures of early universe theories which are of direct relevance to STFC-supported satellite and other experiments, such as Planck and Clover. This work entails making detailed quantitative observational predictions which can be used to distinguish between different inflation models, as well as those involving cosmic superstrings and textures. In particular, we wish to study cosmologies emerging from higher dimensional models in fundamental theory, and discover ways in which to differentiate these from conventional four-dimensional models. We will also use data from the late universe to develop probes of the cosmological constant, dark energy and the variation of the fundamental constants of nature. In addition, we will embark on a new project in gravitational physics, studying the existence, formation and consequences of black holes. We will consider the distinctive signatures of extra dimensions which the experimental study of black holes may be able to uncover.
Organisations
Publications
Chen X
(2010)
Large non-Gaussianities with intermediate shapes from quasi-single-field inflation
in Physical Review D
Regan D
(2010)
Cosmic string power spectrum, bispectrum, and trispectrum
in Physical Review D
Renaux-Petel, Sebastien
(2010)
Primordial bispectrum and trispectrum in multifield Dirac- Born-Infeld inflation
Houri T
(2010)
Symmetries of the Dirac operator with skew-symmetric torsion
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Weinfurtner S
(2010)
Projectable Horava-Lifshitz gravity in a nutshell
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Vitagliano V
(2010)
Dynamics of generalized Palatini theories of gravity
in Physical Review D
Gibbons GW
(2010)
Black holes in an expanding universe.
in Physical review letters
DUNAJSKI M
(2010)
Four-dimensional metrics conformal to Kähler
in Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
Hamber H
(2010)
Gravitational Wilson loop in discrete quantum gravity
in Physical Review D
Monteiro R
(2010)
Semiclassical instabilities of Kerr-anti-de Sitter black holes
in Physical Review D