BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//CERN//INDICO//EN BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Strings\, Math and Mirror Symmetry DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081017T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081017T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43276@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43276 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43276 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Gravitational waves from reheating after inflation (A new window i nto the Early Universe) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081017T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081017T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43283@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43283 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43283 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Can the DAMA annual modulation be explained by Dark Matter? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081024T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081024T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43325@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I review the results of the DAMA/LIBRA experiment\, which rece ntly increased the significance of an annual modulation of their count rat e to 8.2 sigma\, and discuss also the relevance of the so-called "channeli ng effect" which has recently been noticed. The phase of the modulation (p eaking in June) is in striking agreement with the prediction for the scatt ering of Dark Matter (DM) particles within the detector. Focusing on spin- independent elastic WIMP scattering\, I will argue that this interpretatio n of DAMA/LIBRA is in sever tension with constraints from other direct DM detection experiments (XENON and CDMS). Departing from this most simple s ituation\, I will also comment briefly on some modifications of astrophysi cs (DM halo properties) as well as particle physics (WIMP scattering prope rties).\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43325 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43325 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Entanglement at finite temperatures in mesoscopic conductors DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081031T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081031T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43279@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We present a theory for two-particle entanglement generation a nd detection in mesoscopic conductors at finite temperature. The entanglem ent detectable by means of currents and zero frequency current correlators is quantified in terms of the reduced density matrix. Applying the theory to the recent experiment [Neder et al.\, Nature 448\, 333 (2007)] on a fe rmionic Hanbury-Brown-Twiss two-particle interferometer we find that while the emitted state is clearly entangled\, the detectable entanglement is c lose to zero. This suggests that further decreasing the temperature and de phasing in the experiment is necessary for an unambiguous demonstration of quasiparticle entanglement.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py ?confId=43279 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43279 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The number of images in lensing DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081031T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081031T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43327@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:This talk follows a review paper by Khavinson and Neumann (Not ices AMS\, 55\, 666-675\, 2008). The authors explain how one can get an up per (and lower) bound on the number of images of a source by n masses. (If n>1\, the number is 5(n-1)). I liked this paper because it is a nice appl ication of complex analysis\, and to some extent\, dynamical systems.\n\nh ttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43327 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43327 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Numerical observation of Hawking radiation from acoustic black hol es in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081114T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081114T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43281@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Although the existence of black-holes has been indirectly prov en on astrophysical grounds\, no experimental evidence of their slow but r elentless evaporation into Hawking radiation has been obtained yet. In the present talk we report numerical simulations of a condensed matter system which shares many properties with gravitational black-holes\, in particul ar the emission of a Hawking radiation: an horizon is created in a moving cloud of ultracold atoms in the nanoKelvin range where atoms behave in a c oherent way as a Bose-Einstein condensate\, and the presence of Hawking ra diation is inferred from peculiar correlations of the quantum fluctuations of the atomic density.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?conf Id=43281 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43281 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Quantum Antiferromagnetism: from Numerical Simulations to Systemat ic Effective Field Theories DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081128T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081128T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43282@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Lightly doped quantum antiferromagnets are the precursors of h igh-temperature superconductors. The Goldstone bosons of antiferromagnetis m are spin waves or magnons. In analogy to baryon chiral perturbation theo ry for the pseudo-Goldstone pions and nucleons in QCD\, systematic low-ene rgy effective field theories are developed for magnons and holes in lightl y doped antiferromagnets\, both on the square and on the honeycomb lattice . Two-hole states bound by magnon exchange are a condensed matter analog o f the deuteron\, while spiral phases of the staggered magnetization are an alogous to pion condensation in dense nuclear matter. The determination of the low-energy parameters of the effective theory by high-precision numer ical simulations of the t-J model is also discussed.\n\nhttp://indico.cern .ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43282 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43282 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Averaging Robertson-Walker Cosmologies DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081128T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081128T110000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-45942@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The so-called cosmological backreaction arises when one direct ly averages the Einstein equations to recover an effective cosmology. Whil e usually applied to avoid employing dark energy models\, strictly speakin g any cosmological model should be built from such an averaging procedure rather than an assumed background. We apply the Buchert formalism to Einst ein-de Sitter\, Lambda CDM and quintessence cosmologies\, and as a first a pproach to the full problem\, evaluate numerically the discrepancies arisi ng from linear perturbation theory between the averaged behaviour and the assumed behaviour.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=45 942 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=45942 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Higgs as a composite pseudo-Goldstone boson DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081205T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081205T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-46343@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Theories in which the Higgs is a composite pseudo-Goldstone bo son of a strongly interacting sector interpolate between the two paradigms for electroweak symmetry breaking: technicolor and a fundamental scalar c ondensate. I will discuss the general features of this class of models and show how they are equivalent to 5-dimensional warped theories where the H iggs is realized as the fifth component of a gauge field. Special emphasis will be put on the implications for the LHC.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/con ferenceDisplay.py?confId=46343 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=46343 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Mapping nonequilibium into equilibrium DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081212T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081212T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-46888@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The fluctuations of out of equilibrium systems are much richer than those of equilibrium ones because time-reversibility is lost\, and t he Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution does not hold. A general theory for large\ , smooth (`hydrodynamic') deviations has been developed in the last few ye ars: it offers us a glimpse of what an out of equilibrium thermodynamics m ight one day look like. When applied to several simple yet non-trivial one -dimensional transport models\, it was found that a complete analytic solu tion can be obtained. It turns out that at the bottom of this miracle is t he fact that these systems have the unexpected feature that a non-local tr anformation maps the driven version back into an equilibrium one. The doma in of applicability of such a transformation\, which is rather reminiscent of the Bosonization transformations in quantum spin chains\, is at presen t an open question.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=4 6888 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=46888 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Deviations from slow roll inflation and features in the primordial spectrum DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081212T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081212T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-46987@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In the slow-roll inflationary scenario\, the amplitude of the curvature perturbations approaches a constant value soon after the modes l eave the Hubble radius and therefore\, these scenarios predict a nearly sc ale invariant spectrum of perturbations. However\, it has been realized th at deviations from slow roll inflation lead to features in the scalar powe r spectrum which can possibly provide a better fit to the CMB data. We fin d that a class of potentials that are similar in form to those that arise in certain minimal supersymmetric extensions of the standard model allow a brief period of departure from inflation sandwiched between two stages of slow roll inflation. This background behavior results in a step like feat ure in the scalar power spectrum. We set the scales such that the drop in the power occurs at a length scale that corresponds to the Hubble radius t oday--a feature that seems necessary to explain the lower power observed i n the quadrupole moment of the CMB anisotropies. We perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to determine the values of the model parameters that provide the best fit to the recent WMAP 5-year data for the CMB angular p ower spectrum. We find that such a spectrum with a suppression of power at large scales leads to a much better fit (with just one extra parameter\, $\\chi_{\\rm eff}^{2}$ improves by 6.62) of the observed data when compare d to the best fit reference $\\Lambda$CDM model with a featureless\, power law\, primordial spectrum.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py? confId=46987 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=46987 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Fundamental constants in physics and their time dependence DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081219T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20081219T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-43328@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In the Standard Model of Particle Physics we are dealing with 28 fundamental constants. The experiments give us the values\, but theoret ically they are not understood. I will discuss these constants\, which are mostly mass parameters. Astrophysical measurements indicate that the fine structure constant is not a real constant\, but depends on time. Grand uni fication then implies also a time variation of the QCD scale. Thus the mas ses of the atomic nuclei and the magnetic moments of the nuclei will depen d on time. The first results on the experiment by T. Haensch in Munich wil l be discussed.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43328 LOCATION: Universite de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=43328 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Coupled currents in cosmic strings DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090227T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090227T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-53099@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:After an introduction to the single current carrying cosmic st ring from the field theory side and in Carter's macroscopic description\, I will show how both formalisms can be simply extended to a string carryin g more than one current. I will then discuss the conditions for stability of the string if transverse and/or longitudinal perturbations of the curre nts are included. I will also give numerical examples to show that\, in th e weak coupling limit\, the physics of a string carrying several currents is well reproduced by an analytic model in which the worldsheet Lagrangian of each string is approximated - using physical arguments - by\, on the o ne hand\, a logarithmic function of two parameters for timelike currents\, and by\, on the other hand\, a rational function of two parameters for sp acelike currents.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=530 99 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=53099 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The non-linear evolution of the cosmic microwave background DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090306T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090306T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-53116@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Non-Gaussian effects in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can arise either from the primordial phase of the universe or from the sub sequent non-linear evolution. I will focus on the latter point and review the perturbation theory beyond linear order. I will detail how the kinetic theory can be used in cosmology to derive the evolution of perturbations for polarized radiation. Finally I will present why the collapse of dark m atter is the main source of non-Gaussianity in the CMB on small scales.\n\ nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=53116 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=53116 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Non-linear power spectrum including massive neutrinos DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090313T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090313T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-53117@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will present a particular way of computing the non-linear po wer spectrum of LambdaCDM models in the presence of massive neutrinos\, us ing the so-called Renormalization Group time-flow approach\, which amounts to a resummation of perturbative corrections to the matter power spectrum to all orders. I will compare this method to other ones\, i.e. one-loop c alculations and N-body simulations.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDis play.py?confId=53117 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=53117 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Anomalous multi-muon events in CDF DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090320T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090320T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-54756@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The CDF collaboration has recently published a study of a larg e excess of peculiar events produced in 2-TeV proton-antiproton interactio ns by the Tevatron collider. These events contain several muon candidates\ , and have kinematical characteristics which are very difficult to explain with known sources. This observation might constitute the first hint of n ew physics beyond the Standard Model.\nThe excess has been found while try ing to resolve a few nagging inconsistencies in Tevatron measurements in t he b-quark sector\, which have been known since Run I. In the seminar thos e inconsistencies will be shortly reviewed\, and the analysis will be summ arized\, with emphasis on the investigations of the possible sources of ba ckground that contribute to the data.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceD isplay.py?confId=54756 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=54756 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Gauge invariant approach to backreaction: a bouncing cosmology exa mple DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090327T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090327T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-54998@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will show how to provide suitable gauge invariant prescripti ons for classical spatial averages or quantum expectation values. Then I w ill use these to illustrate a gauge invariant approach to quantum backreac tion for the case of a bouncing cosmology model.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/ conferenceDisplay.py?confId=54998 LOCATION:Geneva University\, Auditoire 234\, 24 E. Ansermet Geneva Univers ity\, Auditoire 234\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=54998 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:PAMELA and galactic dark matter DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090403T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090403T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-55645@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:One of the favorite candidates to the astronomical dark matter is a massive and weakly interacting particle. Such a species arises natur ally in the framework of supersymmetry or in extensions of the Standard Mo del à la Kaluza-Klein. Should they pervade the halo of the Milky Way\, th ese dark matter particles would annihilate with each other and produce pos itrons and antiprotons whose spectra would then become distorted. A positr on excess has actually been reported by the PAMELA collaboration above 10 GeV whereas the antiproton flux seems compatible with conventional astroph ysical processes. I will present these observations together with their cu rrent explanations and analyze the consequences on the properties of the p utative dark matter particles.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay. py?confId=55645 LOCATION:Geneva University\, Auditoire 234\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=55645 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Standard Model Higgs boson mass from inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090403T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090403T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-55646@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will discuss inflation driven by the Higgs field of the Stan dard Model. It will be argued that inflation is possible in a certain inte rval of Higgs masses. This range exceeds somewhat the interval of Higgs ma sses in which the Standard Model is a viable field theory all the way up t o the Planck scale.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=5 5646 LOCATION:Geneva University\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=55646 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dynamical Stability and Plasmid Strings DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090424T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090424T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-57343@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I'll introduce a particular class of fundamental string config urations in the form of closed loops stabilized by their internal dynamics . Then\, I'll describe their classical treatment and embedding in models o f string cosmology\, present their quantum version in flat space and the s emiclassical limit that provides the microscopic description of certain ty pe of black rings. I'll show the parametric matching between the degenerac y of microstates and the entropy of the supergravity solution and conclude by commenting on the progress towards a similar construction on an AdS ba ckground.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=57343 LOCATION: Geneva University\, Auditoire 234\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=57343 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Testing String Theory wih Cosmological Observations DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090424T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090424T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-57346@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In spite of its phenomenological successes\, inflationary univ erse cosmology suffers from some conceptual problems. These motivate the s earch for a new paradigm of early universe cosmology based on new fundamen tal physics. I will present a toy model of early universe cosmology constr ucted from some basic principles of superstring theory. This model can exp lain current observations\, and makes specific predictions which will allo w the test of certain aspects of string theory in cosmological observation s.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=57346 LOCATION: Geneva University\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=57346 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The mass distribution of dark matter halos DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090508T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090508T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-58525@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:A classic method to compute the mass function of dark matter h alos is the excursion set method\, where the density perturbation evolves stochastically with the smoothing scale\, and the problem of computing the probability of halo formation is mapped into the so-called first-passage time problem in the presence of a barrier. To date\, however\, analytical results were only obtained assuming that the density perturbations perform s a markovian random walk\, which however is not the case for non-Gaussian primordial fluctuations (and in fact is not true even for Gaussian primor dial fluctuations). In a recent series of papers with A. Riotto we have ge neralized the classical excursion set theory to non-markovian dynamics\, a nd we have computed the halo mass function for both gaussian and non-Gauss ian initial fluctuations. Our analytical results reproduce remarkably well the results of cosmological N-body simulations.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/ conferenceDisplay.py?confId=58525 LOCATION: Geneva University\, Auditoire 234\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=58525 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Transplanckian string collisions and gravitational collapse DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090508T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090508T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-58527@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:After summarizing some 20+ years of work on transplanckian str ing collisions I will illustrate recent progress on how to approach\, at a quantum coherence-preserving level\, the expected threshold for black hol e formation.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=58527 LOCATION: Geneva University\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=58527 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Matter bounce as an alternative to inflation? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090515T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090515T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-58743@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Fluctuations which exit the Hubble radius during the matter-do minated contracting phase of a bouncing cosmology will\, under certain con ditions\, lead to a scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological fluctuations\ , and thus to an alternative to cosmological inflation. I will discuss pos sible realizations of this scenario as well as some observational predicti ons.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=58743 LOCATION: Geneva University\, Auditoire 234\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=58743 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cascading Gravity and the Accelerated Expansion of the Universe DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090529T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090529T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-59625@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Higher dimensional models with brane-localized kinetic terms\, like DGP and the Cascading Gravity model\, realize consistent modificatio ns of gravity. These models give rise to Self-Accelerated branches where t he acceleration is supported by the brane kinetic terms. However\, these b ranches have ghosts and so are irrelevant for phenomenological purposes. I will introduce a new type of `self-accelerated' solutions present in mode ls with 6 or more dimensions. The Cascading Gravity model supports solutio ns of this kind and one can explicitly see that there are no ghost excitat ions around them. This provides the first example of consistent Lorentz-in variant modification of gravity with a healthy self-accelerated phase. We comment on the phenomenological signatures of this type of acceleration.\n \nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=59625 LOCATION: Geneva University\, Auditoire 234\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=59625 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The expansion history of the universe DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090925T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20090925T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-68763@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:A direct determination of the expansion history of the Univers e is a useful tool to constrain theories that describe the current phase o f accelerated expansion. I will discuss new results in this area and how t hey help constrain models of the universe. I will especially focus on cons training deviations from the standard LCDM paradigm.\n\nhttp://indico.cern .ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=68763 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=68763 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:On the origin of neutrino mass and mixing in the Standard Model DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091002T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091002T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-69200@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:One can describe cosmological relic neutrinos by adding Lagran ge multipliers to the Standard Model Lagrangian for them. The two possible Lagrange multipliers are a chemical potential\, which fixes the mean neut rino/anti-neutrino asymmetry\, and a Majorana mass\, which fixes the mean spin-entropy. Neutrinos are Majorana in the Standard Model due to the pres ence of relics. Furthermore we show that by considering their self-interac tions and one-loop corrections to their self-energy mediated by Z bosons\, the Standard Model has tri-bimaximal mixing of neutrinos.\n\nhttp://indic o.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=69200 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=69200 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Electroweak baryogenesis and the LHC DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091009T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091009T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-69203@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will summarize the main results for electroweak baryogenesis in the Standard Model of electroweak interactions which motivates physics beyond it. I will then analyze some extensions thereof (including hidden sectors coupled to the Higgs and the minimal supersymmetric extension of t he Standard Model) and will review the present situation especially in vie w of the forthcoming LHC experimental data.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/confe renceDisplay.py?confId=69203 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=69203 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Mechanical oscillations in the quantum regime DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091023T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091023T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-69207@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) couple electric propertie s and mechanical motion. Apart from being prospective applications\, they also display many unusual physical phenomena and open new possibilities in condensed matter physics. One of the mainstream directions in NEMS resear ch is the quest to observe zero-point mechanical motion\, which has not be en yet achieved experimentally. I will discuss the difficulties to be over come on the way to the quantum regime\, concentrating on our proposal of J osephson detection of quantized mechanical oscillations.\n\nhttp://indico. cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=69207 LOCATION: Geneva University\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 E. Ansermet URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=69207 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Reheating the universe after Higgs-inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091030T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091030T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-72068@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will describe how the Universe reheats after a period of inf lation in which the Standard Model Higgs plays the role of the inflaton. T his is a complex process in which perturbative and non-perturbative effect s are mixed\, and backreaction of the decay products on the Higgs condensa te also has to be taken into account.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceD isplay.py?confId=72068 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=72068 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The large scale inhomogeneity of the galaxy distribution DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091030T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091030T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-72069@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:By studying the probability density function of conditional fl uctuations in the newest galaxy samples of the Sloan Digitial Sky Survey a nd of Two degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey\, we show that large scale s tructures are quite typical and correspond to large fluctuations in the de nsity field. We test two basic hypotheses of the standard statistical anal ysis\, namely that of self-averaging of fluctuations and of spatial homoge neity. We find that the fluctuations are not in fact self-averaging and th e galaxy distribution is inhomogeneous up to scales of the order of 100 Mp c/h In addition we do not find any statistical evidence for the scale corr esponding to the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations\, and we measure positive two-point correlations extending to scales larger than what is predicted b y the LCDM model\, i.e. ~ 120 Mpc/h. Finally we discuss that standard theo retical models of structure formation are unable to explain the existence of the large fluctuations in the galaxy density field detected in these sa mples.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=72069 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=72069 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cosmology of Neutrino Minimal Standard model DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091106T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091106T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-72849@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will review an extension of the Standard Model by three righ t-handed (sterile) neutrinos with masses below the electroweak scale (the Neutrino Minimal Standard Model\, nuMSM). I will overview the history of t he Universe from the inflationary era until today and demonstrate that mos t of the observed beyond-the-Standard-Model phenomena find their explanati on within the framework of this model. In particular\, the model provides mechanisms of inflation and generation of baryon asymmetry of the Universe . It contains a dark matter candidate that can be warm or cold and satisfi es all existing constraints. On particle physics side the nuMSM explains t he data on neutrino flavor oscillations. The masses of all new particles i n the nuMSM are below the electroweak scale\, which makes the model testab le with existing experimental means.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDi splay.py?confId=72849 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=72849 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Macroscopic effects of the quantum trace anomaly: dark energy and condensate stars DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091106T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091106T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-72850@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The trace anomaly of quantum fields in electromagnetic or grav itational backgrounds implies the existence of massless scalar poles in ph ysical amplitudes involving the stress-energy tensor. These correspond to new long range massless scalar degrees of freedom in gravity\, not present in the classical Einstein theory. The effective action of low energy grav ity in the standard model therefore contains additional massless scalar de grees of freedom which couple to classical sources\, contribute to gravita tional scattering process and can have long range gravitational effects. T hese macroscopic effects are significant in the vicinity of black hole eve nt horizons\, and in cosmology on the Hubble scale\, where they can lead t o substantial\, nonlinear backreaction on the classical geometry. In parti cular they suggest a completely non-singular final state of gravitational collapse in which the classical black hole event horizon is replaced by a thin shell\, and the interior is a vacuum condensate with dark energy equa tion of the state\, p=-rho. The condensate star has a modest entropy and s uffers from no information paradox. The implications of these ideas for co smology and dark energy will be discussed as well\, as time permits.\n\nht tp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=72850 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=72850 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Large scale tests of the gravity law DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091113T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091113T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-73599@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The experiments performed during the 20th century have confirm ed the validity of general relativity from the scale of laboratory till th at of planetary orbits. But windows remain open for deviations from the pr edictions of general relativity at smaller or larger scales. And the study of large scales is of particular interest in the current context of funda mental physics marked by the enigmae of dark matter and dark energy.\n\nWe shall discuss this question\, by taking into account the many results whi ch confirm general relativity as well as the few "anomalies" which could c onstitute first indications of a large-scale modification of the gravity l aw\, or result more mundanely from some "artefact" in the experiment or it s analysis.\n\nWe shall present several strategies used to approach this p roblem\, in particular the re-analysis of the data or the projects of dedi cated missions or instruments\, the objective of which would be to use the currently available technologies in order to test the law of gravity on t he scale of the solar system.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.p y?confId=73599 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=73599 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Gravitational condensate stars & dark energy DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091120T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091120T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-74262@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Quantum effects in the vicinity of black hole event horizons s uggest that backreaction is important in gravitational collapse. In partic ular\, a quantum phase transition in which the local value of the vacuum e nergy or cosmological `constant' changes can prevent a true event horizon from forming at all. This suggests a completely non-singular final state o f gravitational collapse in which the classical black hole event horizon i s replaced by a thin shell of ultrarelativistic matter\, and the interior is a vacuum condensate with dark energy eq. of the state\, p=-rho. A conde nsate star has a modest entropy does not emit Hawking quanta\, and suffers from no black hole information paradox. The cosmological dark energy of t he Universe may then just be a finite volume effect associated with bounda ry conditions on the Hubble horizon.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDi splay.py?confId=74262 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=74262 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Thermodynamics and kinetics of brownian molecular motors and pumps DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091120T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091120T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-74264@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Protein molecular machines - motors and pumps - perfected over the course of millions of years of evolution play an essential role in mo ving and assembling biological structures. Recently chemists have been abl e to synthesize molecules that emulate in part the remarkable capabilities of these biomolecular motors and pumps. Like their biological counterpart s\, many of these synthetic machines function in an environment where visc ous forces dominate inertia: to move they must "swim in molasses". Further \, the thermal noise power exchanged reversibly between the motor and its environment is many orders of magnitude greater than the power provided by the chemical fuel to drive directed motion. One might think that moving i n a specific direction would be as difficult as walking in a hurricane. Ye t biomolecular machines (and increasingly\, synthetic motors and pumps) mo ve and accomplish their function with almost deterministic precision and v ery high efficiency. By using chemical design to control the labilities of transitions\, and the relative stabilities of states\, it is possible to constructively use thermal noise and viscous drag to create a motor that\, in the presence of energy input\, carries out the function of a motor wit h high efficiency and power output.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDis play.py?confId=74264 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=74264 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Non-Gaussianity\, loops\, and the stability of de Sitter DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091127T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091127T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-74839@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We will discuss the IR divergences appearing in loop calculati ons of cosmological correlation functions and the possible connection to t he issues concerning the stability of de Sitter space. We will also explor e what this connection can teach us about the systematics of primordial no n-Gaussianity from inflation.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.p y?confId=74839 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=74839 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:What does high-energy scattering teach us about quantum gravity? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091127T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091127T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-74848@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Whether through real or gedanken experiments\, we expect high- energy scattering to probe important aspects of quantum gravity. In partic ular\, such experiments ultimately run into a paradox that seemingly drive s at the heart of the problem of reconciling quantum mechanics and gravity : the black hole information problem. I will summarize some aspects of wha t we know (within and without string theory) and what might be missing. Ba sic features of gravity give important clues about novel behavior compared to conventional local field theory. The missing elements could be importa nt keys to unlock the mysteries of quantum gravity.\n\nhttp://indico.cern. ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=74848 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=74848 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Modelling the clustering of dark matter haloes DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091204T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091204T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-75377@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:An accurate description of the spatial and velocity distributi on of galaxies is required to extract maximum information from present and forthcoming galaxy redshift surveys. In the context of CDM cosmologies\, which predict that galaxies reside inside virialized haloes of dark matter \, understanding the clustering of dark matter haloes is a crucial step to wards modelling galaxy clustering. I will show that many insights can be g ained from a study of density peaks\, particularly with regards to the sca le dependence of the spatial and velocity bias in cosmologies with Gaussia n and non-Gaussian primordial perturbations.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conf erenceDisplay.py?confId=75377 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=75377 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Blue Brain Project - simulation-based research in neuroscience DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091204T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091204T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-75378@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Mammalian brains are arguably the most complex structures know n to man. In 1mm^3 of the neocortex of a rat there are 10\,000 nerve cells with close to 1km of fibres and tens of millions of synapses. Unifying ex perimental biology and high-performance computing\, the Blue Brain Project is an undertaking to introduce simulation-based research to neuroscience\ , i.e. enabling researchers to test hypothesis of function and malfunction "in silico".\n\nOver the last 4 years an interdisciplinary team of 35 res earchers has cast the reverse-engineering of the biological pieces and the forward construction of detailed mathematical models in an iterative proc ess that allows continuous refinement. Using the computational power of a 4-rack BlueGene/L\, a dedicated framework of software tools has been built that allows a completely data-driven model generation and simulation of a piece of rat brain. In order to put the expert into the loop\, extensive use of visualization and interactive analysis is made\, which is powered b y another dedicated supercomputer in order to realize short turn-around ti mes.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=75378 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=75378 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Features in the primordial power spectrum? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091211T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091211T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-76108@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The primordial spectrum of curvature perturbations represents a unique probe of the physics of inflation. In the present concordance mod el of cosmology\, it is assumed to be a smooth\, power-law function of the wavenumber. Notwithstanding\, inflation can also lead to more complex sha pes of the spectrum\, including high-frequency "features". I will review t he physics that might result in such features and the search for them in c osmological data\, discuss whether the 5-year WMAP data show any evidence of features and give an outlook on the discovery potential of future exper iments.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=76108 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=76108 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dark stars and WIMP burners DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091211T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20091211T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-76111@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Most of the matter in the Universe is invisible. Some of the m ost popular candidates for this dark matter are weakly interacting massive particles or WIMPs. It has long been known that these WIMPs may scatter o ff the nuclei in stars\, accumulate in their cores and annihilate into sta ndard model particles\, indeed scientists are looking for high energy neut rinos from such annihilations in the Sun. We ask the question\, are there any environments in the Universe where dark matter is accreted onto stars such that it changes their outward appearance? Our itinerary takes in the centre of the galaxy\, the oldest white dwarfs in globular clusters and th e first stars formed after the big bang. For fun we finish with a possible if unlikely explanation for gamma ray bursts.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/co nferenceDisplay.py?confId=76111 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=76111 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dynamics of finite and infinite self-gravitating systems DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100226T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100226T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-85821@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Despite extensive numerical simulation over the last few decad es in astrophysics and cosmology\, many fundamental questions about the ev olution of classical particles interacting only by Newtonian gravity remai n open. In this talk I will first review some of the basic analytical and numerical results about such systems\, placing them in the more general co ntext of long range interacting systems. I will then introduce and report results of studies of one dimensional toy models for these systems which a llow one to study in a very controlled way some of the open issues.\n\nhtt p://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=85821 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire Stueckelberg\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=85821 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY: Inflation on the Brane with Vanishing Gravity DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100226T100000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100226T110000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-85822@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Many existing models of brane inflation suffer from a steep ir reducible gravitational potential between the branes that causes inflation to end too early. Inspired by the fact that point masses in 2+1 D exert n o gravitational force\, we propose a novel unwarped and non-supersymmetric setup for inflation\, consisting of 3-branes in two extra dimensions on a sphere. The size of the sphere is stabilized by a combination of a bulk c osmological constant and a magnetic flux. Computing the 4D effective poten tial between probe branes in this background\, we find a non-zero contribu tion only from exchange of level-1 KK modes of the graviton and radion. Fo r antipodal pairs of branes the contribution from these modes is absent\; we can thus eliminate entirely the troublesome gravitational contribution to the inflationary potential.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay. py?confId=85822 LOCATION: Univ. de Geneve\, Auditoire 234\, 24 quai E. Ansermet\, CH-1211 Genève 4 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=85822 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Energy budget of cosmological first-order phase transitions DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100305T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100305T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-86825@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:During a cosmological first-order phase transition\, most of t he latent heat is released into thermal energy and bulk motion of the plas ma. At the end of the phase transition\, when the bubbles percolate\, the latter will give rise to anisotropic stress in the plasma and generate gra vitational waves. In this talk I review the basic principles of gravitatio nal wave production and the analysis of the energy budget of the phase tra nsition by means of hydrodynamics. Finally\, I will discuss how these sign als can be used to constrain and/or rule out specific particle physics mod els.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=86825 LOCATION: Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=86825 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cosmological Bubbles and Solitons DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100312T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100312T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-87429@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Cosmological bubble collisions arising from first order phase transitions are a generic consequence of the Eternal Inflation scenario. I will present our computational strategy for generating and evolving these bubbles in 3+1 dimensions and in a self- consistently expanding backgroun d. I will show the existence of classical field transitions--the classical nucleation of bubbles during collisions--which can dramatically alter the canonical description of eternal inflation.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conf erenceDisplay.py?confId=87429 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=87429 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Hidden sector dark matter models and cosmic ray anomalies DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100312T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100312T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-87430@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will review the current status of models of TeV dark matter transforming under a hidden sector nonabelian gauge interaction\, with res pect to explaining anomalous leptonic signals from the galaxy seen by the PAMELA\, Fermi and INTEGRAL experiments. Special emphasis is given to the excess 511 keV gamma rays observed by INTEGRAL\, and how the dark matter i nterpretation is constrained by Fermi observations of high energy galactic gamma rays. I will discuss the sensitivity of these results to the poorly constrained dark matter profile in the galactic central region.\n\nhttp:/ /indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=87430 LOCATION:Univ. of Geneva Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=87430 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Transport in topological insulators DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100319T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100319T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-88043@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Topological insulators (TIs) are systems that have a bulk gap and surface states which are protected by time-reversal symmetry. I give a n introduction into this fascinating new subject highlighting the transpor t aspect of it. In the two-dimensional TI\, the surface is one dimensional and hosts the so called quantum spin Hall effect [1]. Prime examples of s uch two-dimensional TIs are HgTe quantum wells (QWs). Depending on the thi ckness of the QW\, they can be topologically trivial (no edge states) or t opologically non-trivial (helical edge states). However\, I show using an effective 4-band model for the QW states\, that the topology is also revea led in bulk transport experiments. I will discuss the conductance and shot noise of ballistic bulk transport in HgTe QWs [2].\n\n[1] B.A. Bernevig\, T.L. Hughes\, and S.C. Zhang\, Science 314\, 1757 (2006).\n\n[2] E.G. Nov ik\, P. Recher\, E.M. Hankiewicz\, and B. Trauzettel\, arXiv:0912.3397.\n\ nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=88043 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=88043 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The collapse of Dark Energy DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100326T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100326T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-88669@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will present a study of the stability of single-field models of dark energy. I will show that no general pathology is associated to a negative equation of state\, P \n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay .py?confId=88669 LOCATION:Univ. de Geneve Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=88669 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Seeing signals of Dark Matter in cosmic rays? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100326T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100326T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-88674@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Dark Matter constitutes more that 80% of the total amount of m atter in the Universe\, yet almost nothing is known about its nature. A po werful investigation technique is that of searching for the products of an nihilations of Dark Matter particles in the galactic halo\, on top of the ordinary cosmic rays. Recent data from the PAMELA and FERMI satellites and a number of balloon experiment have reported unexpected excesses in the m easured fluxes of cosmic rays. Are these the first direct evidences for Da rk Matter? If yes\, which DM models and candidates can explain these anoma lies and what do they imply for future searches? What are the constraints from other gamma rays measurements and cosmology?\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch /conferenceDisplay.py?confId=88674 LOCATION:Univ. of Geneva Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=88674 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:On eternal inflation and de Sitter entropy DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100416T083000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100416T093000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-91145@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will summarize several results on the physics of eternal inf lation and possible relations to the problem of de Sitter entropy and TeV scale physics.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=91145 LOCATION:Universite de Geneve Auditoire 234\, Geneva Uni. URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=91145 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Effective-One-Body Approach to the Dynamics of Relativistic Binary Systems DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100416T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100416T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-91146@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Coalescing black hole binaries are among the most promising gr avitational wave sources for the network of ground-based interferometric g ravitational wave detectors (LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/...). In order to be able to d etect\, and analyze\, the gravitational wave signals emitted by coalescing systems of black holes\, or neutron stars\, it is crucial to have an accu rate analytical model of these signals. The Effective-One-Body (EOB) forma lism is an analytical approach which appears able to provide an accurate d escription of the motion and radiation of coalescing binary systems. We sh all describe the basic theoretical elements of this formalism\, as well as its recent extension to the problem of tidally interacting neutron star s ystems.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=91146 LOCATION:University of Geneva Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=91146 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cosmological perturbations and observational constraints on an int eracting dark energy model DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100604T083000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100604T093000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-96739@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will present an interacting dark energy model\, where the in teraction is proportional to the dark matter density and the dark energy e quation of state is time-varying. I will show the conditions to be imposed on the early-time dark energy equation of state parameter in order to giv e adiabatic initial conditions and viable cosmologies. We perform a full M onte Carlo Markov Chain likelihood analysis of this model. We use observat ions of cosmic microwave background anisotropies\, supernova luminosities and the baryon acoustic oscillation signal in the galaxy distribution to c onstrain the cosmological parameters and find that the combination of the three data sets confines the interaction constant to be less than 23% of t he expansion rate of the Universe.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisp lay.py?confId=96739 LOCATION:Université de Genève Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=96739 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Non-relativistic Quantum Gravity DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100924T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100924T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-107423@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will review the recent proposal to make general relativity r enormalizable in 4D at the expense of breaking Lorentz invariance. After i ntroducing the original idea by P. Horava through a toy model\, I will pre sent the similar realization for the gravitational field where an extra de gree of freedom with respect to general relativity will appear. Depending on the behavior of the extra mode\, the theory may become unstable or stro ngly coupled. As I will show\, there is still a window in parameter space without any of these blatant problems and compatible with the first phenom enological tests.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=107 423 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=107423 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Unitarizing Higgs inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101008T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101008T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-108916@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model Higgs inf lation with one new real-scalar field in which there is no unitarity probl em up to the Planck scale. The new scalar field\, the so called sigma fiel d\, is responsible for completing the Higgs inflation by linearizing the H iggs kinetic term in Einstein frame just as the non-linear sigma model is unitarized into its linear one. In this setup\, both the Higgs field and t he sigma field participate in the inflationary dynamics\, following the fl at direction of the potential. The mass of the heavy field is of order the unitarity cutoff of the original Higgs inflation\, varying with the backg round scalar field values. We obtained the same slow-roll parameters and s pectral index as in the original Higgs inflation but found that the inflat ion energy depends on the Higgs self-coupling as well as the unknown coupl ings of the sigma field.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?con fId=108916 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=108916 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Enhancement of Compton scattering by an effective coupling constan t DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101015T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101015T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-109210@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Max Born suggested that the Compton scattering cross section i s connected to an absolute length scale [1]. Understanding this fundamenta l relationship could enable us to enhance the Compton scattering cross sec tions by engineering an effective quantum electro-dynamics (QED) interacti on. In fact\, by using a general thermodynamic argument\, we predict [2] t hat the Thomson scattering length depends on the QED coupling constant inv erse by an exponential function\, so that the corresponding Compton scatte ring cross section enhancement can change enormously by varying the coupli ng constant. This behavior could be obtained by modifying the dielectric r esponse\, for instance\, by tuning the incident photon energy near the bin ding energy of a deep lying core level. A Compton cross section enhancemen t of almost a factor four is predicted for Compton scattering experiments at the K edge in graphite by using realistic dielectric data [3]. This new effect can enable us to propose experiments opening the door to the possi bility of validating quantum gravity theories without invoking huge and ex pensive experimental apparatuses.\n\n[1] Max Born\, Nature 169\, 1105 (195 2).\n[2] Bernardo Barbiellini and Piero Nicolini\, arXiv:1005.5496v2.\n[3] B.T. Draine\, The Astrophysical Journal 598\, 1026 (2003).\n\nhttp://indi co.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=109210 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=109210 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Improved non-Gaussian Mass Functions for Halos and Voids DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101022T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101022T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-110583@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:\n The abundance of collapsed objects in the Universe\, or hal o mass function\, is an important tool in studying the imprints of primord ial non-Gaussianities on large scale structures. Non-Gaussian analytical c orrections to the Gaussian result can be computed perturbatively in the fr amework of the excursion set theory. However\, the involved parameters are scale dependent and some become of order unity for large mass scales or a t high redshifts\, spoiling the validity of the perturbative expansion.\n Combining path integral methods and saddle point techniques (separately ap plied in previous approaches) allows a non-perturbative treatment of the d engerous terms. Hence\, an accurate expression for the mass function is ob tained\, which is valid over a larger range of mass scales and redshifts ( also accounting for multi-scale density correlations).\n In addition\, by tracking the terms neglected in the analysis\, the theoretical uncertainti es can be estimated\, allowing comparisons between different approaches. F or this result\, the dominant error is due to approximations related to th e choice of the smoothing filter function\, and not due to the truncation of the expansion in non-Gaussian parameters.\n The same technique can also be generalized to study cosmic voids. Some of the arising complications a re discussed.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=110583 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=110583 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Non-Gaussianity - How much can we learn? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101029T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101029T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-107750@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The model of local non-Gaussianity\, parameterised by the cons tant non-linearity parameter fNL\, is an extremely popular description of non-Gaussianity. However\, a mild scale-dependence of fNL is natural. This scale dependence is a new observable\, potentially detectable with the Pl anck satellite\, which helps to further discriminate between models of inf lation. It is sensitive to properties of the early universe which are not probed by the standard observables. In a complementary way\, the trispectr um also contains important information about non-Gaussianity which the bis pectrum does not capture. We explicitly calculate the scale dependence and trispectrum in several models including one with a very large infrared-lo op contribution to the bispectrum and in various realisations of the curva ton scenario.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=107750 LOCATION:Geneva University URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=107750 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Imperfect Dark Energy of Kinetic Gravity Braiding DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101105T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101105T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-112614@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:This will be the talk about new class of scalar-tensor theorie s which exhibit Kinetic Gravity Braiding - essential kinetic mixing of the metric with the scalar filed. In particular I will discuss an equivalent formulation of these theories as hydrodynamics of imperfect fluids. Then I will consider cosmological dynamics in this systems and show that it allo ws for various interesting peculiar phenomena: stable violation of the Nul l Energy Condition\, de Sitter solution with non-vanishing sound speed etc .\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=112614 LOCATION:Geneva university Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=112614 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dark matter relic density and Early Universe properties DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101112T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101112T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-112761@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The nature of dark matter is one of the most important questio ns of cosmology. Many particle physics scenarios beyond the Standard Model (BSM) propose candidates for dark matter\, and the relic density of dark matter can be computed and compared to the cosmological observations. This technique is generally used to constrain new physics parameters. During t his seminar\, I will first present the standard cosmological model\, the c osmological observations and the problems of the cosmological model. I wil l describe different mechanisms that could have occurred before BBN\, and explain their consequences on the relic density calculation. Considering t he relic density calculation in the minimal supersymmetric extension of th e SM (MSSM)\, I will show that the Early Universe deviations from the stan dard cosmological model can have extremely large consequences on the calcu lated relic density. I will finally present methods to constrain the Early Universe properties using collider data.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/confere nceDisplay.py?confId=112761 LOCATION:Geneva University URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=112761 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Composite Higgs Models: The Past and the Future DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101119T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101119T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-113259@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will start reviewing the recent progress in the construction of realistic composite Higgs models\, emphasizing the successes and the c hallenges from flavor physics and precision electro-weak measurements. I w ill then describe two possible directions to weaken phenomenological bound s. One possibility is to assume that the strong sector from which the Higg s emerges is supersymmetric. Through supersymmetry the dynamical scale of the strong sector could be 10-20 TeV with little fine-tuning\, strongly re ducing all bounds from compositeness. The soft scalar masses of the light generations are naturally heavy reducing/solving the SUSY flavor problem. In the last part of the talk I will show how the assumption that the Higgs sector is CP symmetric may allow to construct models where all phenomenol ogical bounds are satisfied with a compositeness scale as low as 3 TeV.\n\ nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=113259 LOCATION:Geneva University URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=113259 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Lessons from black holes about quantum gravity DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101119T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101119T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-113347@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The ongoing quest for understanding quantum black holes is mot ivated\nby the challenges that they pose to the basic principles of quantu m\nmechanics and to gravity. I will review some basic facts about the\nthe rmodynamics of quantum black holes and the paradoxes that their\nexistence apparently implies. Then I will explain the consequences of\nassuming tha t the global quantum state of the black hole and the\nunitary quantum evol ution operator are well defined. The results hint\ntowards a surprising po ssibility that only matter should be quantized\nand gravity should not.\n\ nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=113347 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=113347 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Coupled dark energy cosmologies and impact on structure formation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101126T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101126T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-114035@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will give an overview of coupled dark energy models\, in whi ch dark energy interacts with other species in the universe. I will illust rate the effects that coupled dark energy and the presence of a fifth forc e can have at the linear and non-linear level on structure formation. In p articular I will describe the case of growing neutrino quintessence\, wher e dark energy properties are connected to the neutrino mass\, predicting t he possibility of having stable neutrino lumps at supercluster scales.\n\n http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=114035 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=114035 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Degenerate Stars and Gravitational Collapse in AdS/CFT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101129T070000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101129T080000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-114989@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We construct composite CFT operators that are holographically dual to a zero temperature Fermi gas in AdS space. We calculate the effect of the gravitational back-reaction on the radius and the mass of the star using the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations. Ignoring other interactio ns\, we determine the "Chandrasekhar limit" beyond which the degenerate st ar (presumably) undergoes gravitational collapse towards a black hole. Thi s is interpreted on the boundary as a high density phase transition from a cold baryonic phase to a hot deconfined phase.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/c onferenceDisplay.py?confId=114989 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=114989 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Supersymmetry with a large reheating temperature DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101217T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101217T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-114986@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Simultaneously solving the cosmological gravitino problem and invoking thermal leptogenesis creates a significant challenge for supersym metric theories. The problem is tackled most directly by trying to find su persymmetric spectrum that maximises the reheating temperature. I report o n work in that direction\, and show its implications for model building an d LHC expectations for supersymmetry.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceD isplay.py?confId=114986 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=114986 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Minimal models of inflation -- connecting cosmology and experiment DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101217T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20101217T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-116930@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Current Standard Model of elementary particles nicely describe s (nearly) all phenomena observed in the laboratories. On cosmological sca les the situation is much worse -- reliable experimental observations do n ot fit into the Standard Model. In the beginning the Universe had a period of inflationary expansion\, now it is filled with Dark Matter and has bar yon asymmetry. All these require explanation beyond the Standard Model. I will argue on the examples of the model with light inflation and of Higgs inflation that extending the SM in a very minimal way leads to explanation of all these experimental facts\, and connects Universe behavior at the e arliest (inflationary) stage to the possible effects in modern laboratorie s.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=116930 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=116930 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A Mechanical Model For Fourier's Law Of Heat Conduction DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110121T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110121T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-122407@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics close to equilibrium is a physically satisfactory theory centered on the linear response formula of Green-Kubo. This formula results from a formal first order perturbation c alculation without rigorous justification. A rigorous derivation of Fourie r's law for heat conduction from the laws of mechanics remains thus a majo r unsolved problem. Here we present a deterministic mechanical model of a heat-conducting chain where kinetic energy fluctuations at the nodes of th e chain are removed. In this model with nontrivial interactions\, the deri vation of Fourier's law can proceed rigorously.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/c onferenceDisplay.py?confId=122407 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=122407 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The dark magnetism of the universe DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110225T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110225T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-128247@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I shall discuss an extended version of electromagnetism in whi ch the usual gauge fixing term is promoted into a physical one that introd uces a new scalar state in the theory. This new state can be generated fro m quantum fluctuations during an inflationary era and\, on super-Hubble sc ales\, it gives rise to an effective cosmological constant. The value of s uch a cosmological constant coincides with the one inferred from observati ons as long as inflation took place at the electroweak scale. On the other hand\, the new state also generates an effective electric charge on sub-H ubble scales that produces both vorticity and magnetic fields with coheren t lengths as large as the present Hubble horizon.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch /conferenceDisplay.py?confId=128247 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=128247 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Scale dependent non Gaussianities DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110311T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110311T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-130699@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:After a brief theoretical motivation to non Gaussianities\, I describe recent work to measure the non Gaussian parameter fnl using the c luster mass function\, and show how fnl can alleviate tension between the current cosmological model and some recent observations of high redshift m assive clusters\, which shouldn't exist. I conclude with related work\, an d steps we are taking to explore possible systematics and obtain robust ma ss estimates for a sample of high tension clusters of galaxies.\n\nhttp:// indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=130699 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=130699 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Large Nongaussianity in Axion Inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110318T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110318T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-131178@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The inflationary paradigm has enjoyed phenomenological success \, however\, a compelling particle physics realization is still lacking. T he key obstruction is the requirement of a suitably flat scalar potential. Axions are perhaps the best-motivated inflaton candidates\, since the fla tness of their potential is naturally protected by a shift symmetry. In an y such model\, pseudo-scalar couplings to gauge fields must be present. In this talk\, I will show how a consistent inclusion of these couplings rad ically modifies the phenomenology. I will show that\, contrary to the conv entional lore\, observably large nongaussianity is a generic feature of wh at are perhaps the simplest and most natural models of single field slow r oll inflation.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=131178 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=131178 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Massive gravitons and enhanced gravitational lensing DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110325T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110325T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-131181@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The mystery of dark energy suggests that there is new gravitat ional physics at low energies and on long length scales. On the other hand \, low mass degrees of freedom in gravity are strictly limited by observat ions within the solar system. A compelling way to resolve this apparent co ntradiction is to add a galilean-invariant scalar field to gravity. Called galileons\, these scalars have strong self interactions near overdensitie s\, like the solar system\, that suppress their effects on the motion of m assive particles. These non-linearities are weak on cosmological scales\, permitting new physics to operate. Extending galilean invariance to the co upling of galileons to stress-energy -- as was first done in the case of m assive gravity -- can have a surprising phenomenological consequence: enha nced gravitational lensing. Weak lensing observations will be able to dete ct or constrain out this effect\, which is not well described by existing "model independent" tests of GR.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDispla y.py?confId=131181 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=131181 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Recent progresses on Boltzmann codes DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110401T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110401T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-132780@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will present several ideas allowing to improve Boltzmann cod es and render them more accurate\, fast and flexible. Most of these ideas have been recently implemented in a new code\, the Cosmic Linear Anisotrop y Solving System (CLASS). I will comment on the new functionalities of CLA SS\, and show the results of an accurate comparison with the CAMB code.\n\ nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=132780 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=132780 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cluster density profiles as test of modified gravity models DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110408T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110408T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-133982@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Alternative theories of gravity generically predict modificati ons in the Poisson equation\, which lead to departures from the growth of structure produced in the concordance model and differences in the accreti on of mass to the virialized dark matter halos. The resulting clusters exh ibit signatures in the density profiles at a few virial radii that offer a unique way to test gravity at the (0.1-10) Mpc scale. The projected mass distribution measured through halo-galaxy lensing around maxBCG samples fr om the SDSS is used to put constraints on the modifications induced by the Hu-Sawicki f(R) gravity model. For consistent theoretical predictions f(R ) gravity and concordance model N-body simulations are implemented along w ith halo model predictions.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py? confId=133982 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=133982 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY: Random Walks\, Moving Barriers and Large Scale Structure DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110415T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110415T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-134636@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Our understanding of the statistics of the large scale structu re (LSS) of the Universe has been influenced a great deal by the excursion set formalism -- the study of (one-dimensional) random walks and their fi rst passage of a given barrier. After a brief introduction to excursion se ts\, I will discuss some recent results in understanding the behaviour of random walks with correlated steps\, in the presence of "moving" barriers. This work builds on an almost forgotten result due to Peacock & Heavens ( 1990)\, which I will also discuss. In particular\, while the effects of co rrelations between steps are known to be small when the formalism is appli ed to study collapsed dark matter halos\, I will argue that these effects are instead crucial in predicting the distribution of underdense regions o r voids in the LSS.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=1 34636 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=134636 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A covariant approach to general field space metric in multi-field inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110506T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110506T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-136340@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We present a covariant formalism for general multi-field syste m which enables us to obtain higher order action of cosmological perturbat ions easily and systematically. The effects of the field space geometry\, described by the Riemann curvature tensor of the field space\, are natural ly incorporated. We explicitly calculate up to the cubic order action whic h is necessary to estimate non-Gaussianity and present those geometric ter ms which have not yet known before.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDis play.py?confId=136340 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=136340 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:On the incompleteness of the moment and correlation function hiera rchy as cosmological probes of the lognormal field DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110520T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110520T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-139466@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The statistical properties of the cosmological matter density field\, when departing from Gaussian initial conditions\, are believed to be reasonably described by lognormal statistics. It is known that due to i ts substantial tails\, the lognormal distribution cannot be uniquely recov ered by the value of all of its moments. I will delve into the implication s of this property\, for the extraction of any model parameter from lognor mal variables. After presenting the independent information content of eac h moment of the lognormal distribution\, I will show that only a sharply d ecreasing fraction of the total information content can be accessed throug h the complete series of moments of the field\, as the field becomes less and less linear. This renders the correlation function hierarchy very inco mplete probes of a lognormal field in the non linear regime.\n\nhttp://ind ico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=139466 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=139466 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dark energy perturbations in theory and in practice DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110527T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110527T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-140274@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Dark energy perturbations may help us to discriminate between different models of the acceleration of the universe. Taking a phenomenolo gical approach\, I will discuss how these perturbations can be used to gai n insight about the mechanism that drives the expansion\, in particular th rough the effects of their speed of sound. I will explain the future prosp ects for its detection using different observations and\, finally\, I will comment on the importance of non-linear effects and how we can estimate t hem.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=140274 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=140274 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Multi-Galileon Modified Gravity DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110531T120000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110531T130000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-140325@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The galileon formalism has recently been proposed to locally d escribe a class of modified gravity theories\, including the braneworld DG P model. We generalise the formalism to include multiple galileons and sho w that the spherically symmetric solution in the bi-galileon theory could be healthier. We also discuss the possibility of self-tuning vacuum energy in bi-galileon models. Further\, we impose internal symmetries on the mul ti-galileon theory and search for soliton solutions. After coupling symmet ric multi-galileons to gravity\, we discuss the spontaneous symmetry break ing phenomenon for background solutions.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferen ceDisplay.py?confId=140325 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=140325 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Constraining dark energy and primordial non-Gaussianity from the l arge-scale structure and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110603T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110603T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-141534@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will describe constraints on dark energy and pr imordial non-Gaussianity from current and future data\, with a particular focus on the large-scale structure and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect.\ nPrimordial non-Gaussianity is expected to be produced in many models of i nflation\, and its constraints are instrumental in our understanding of th e physics of the early universe. I will review its observable effects at l ate times\, concentrating on the galactic bias\, which becomes scale-depen dent due to coupling of long- and short-wavelength modes. I will describe the constraints that this technique will yield from future galaxy surveys such as Euclid.\nThe integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect is a secondary componen t of the CMB which is produced when the Universe undergoes a transition to a dark energy phase. It can be measured by cross-correlating the CMB with tracers of the large-scale structure\, such as galaxy catalogues. I will describe updates and new analyses of our multiple data set of six galaxy c atalogues\, which is now extended to include the latest SDSS-III data and a better control of systematics. I will then describe how these data\, due to their dependence on the bias\, can also be used to constrain primordia l non-Gaussianity.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=14 1534 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=141534 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dark Energy Hunting DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110923T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110923T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-156176@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The expansion of the universe is currently accelerating. Many explanations for this reduce to the introduction of a new light scalar fie ld\, however new light scalar fields mediate new fifth forces. In the simp lest scenarios these are excluded by experiment. I will discuss models whi ch allow for the introduction of a new non-linear scalar field\, and show how they avoid the constraints of fifth force experiments. Other types of experiment need to be used to search for non-linear scalar fields. I will show that particle colliders\, precision atomic measurements\, and Casimir experiments are all able to search for and constrain such scalar fields.\ n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=156176 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=156176 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Local and non-local features in the primordial power spectrum and associated non-Gaussianities DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110929T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20110929T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-156177@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:This talk is divided into two parts. In the first half of the talk\, I will discuss the generation of localized as well as non-local fea tures (i.e. characteristic and repeated patterns that extend over a wide r ange of scales) in the inflationary scalar power spectrum that lead to a b etter fit to the CMB data than the conventional power law spectrum. In the second half\, I will discuss the non-Gaussianities that arise in such sce narios\, and how they compare with the current observational limits on the parameter f_NL.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=1561 77 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=156177 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Velocity probe in cosmology DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111007T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111007T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-157976@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will describe some of my recent work on using l arge-scale velocity probes to constrain cosmology. I will explain how mode ls with primordial non-Gaussianity leave signatures on the velocity PDF of both dark matter field and biased tracers. I will then present an analyti cal model to describe the velocity profile around massive clusters and its potential to probe modified gravity.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceD isplay.py?confId=157976 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=157976 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Clustering in Photometric Galaxy Surveys: a window for redshift di stortions DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111014T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111014T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-158389@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Near future cosmology will see the advent of wide area photome tric galaxy surveys\, such as the PanSTARRS\, DES and Euclid\, that extent to high redshifts (z ~ 1.5) but with poor radial distance resolution. In such cases splitting the data into redshift bins and looking at angular cl ustering will become the standard approach to extract cosmological informa tion or to study the nature of dark energy through the Baryon Acoustic Osc illations (BAO) probe. In this talk I will present a comprehensive model f or this clustering signal at large angular scales including all relevant e ffects. One interesting outcome is the potential of future photometric sur veys to yield constraints in the growth of structure through redshift spac e distortions (RSD) that can be competitive with spectroscopic analysis at lower redshifts. In addition RSD complements and alters the detectability of BAO. As a proof-of-concept we used the photometric catalog of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in the latest data release (DR7) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II to show that both\, BAO and RSD\, can be robustly measured with errors matching expectations.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisp lay.py?confId=158389 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=158389 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Stückelberg in the Sky with Gravitons DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111014T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111014T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-158390@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Whilst the theory of General Relativity is easily the force wh ich has successfully passed the largest variety of tests\, the late-time a cceleration of the Universe might be the first signs of its breakdown on l arge distance scales. I will review the difficulties in modifying gravity on large distance scales before proposing an explicit covariant theory of massive gravity in which the existence of Stückelberg fields plays a cruc ial role.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=158390 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=158390 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Purely Kinetic Coupled Gravity DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111021T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111021T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-159332@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Cosmic acceleration can be achieved not only with a sufficient ly flat scalar field potential but through kinetic terms coupled to gravit y. I consider the implications for the expansion history of the universe o f modifying the standard general relativity action at the lowest possible order in the Planck mass through the addition of a coupling between functi ons of the metric and kinetic terms of a free scalar field. I show that th e most general purely kinetic action not exceeding mass dimension six and obeying second order field equations reduces to a simple form involving a coupling of the Einstein tensor with the kinetic term and can be interpret ed as adding a new term to Galileon gravity in curved spacetime. I examine the cosmological implications of the effective dark energy and classify t he dynamical attractor solutions\, finding a quasistable loitering phase m imicking late time acceleration by a cosmological constant\, without the n ecessity of adding any potential for the field.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/c onferenceDisplay.py?confId=159332 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=159332 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY: High-frequency predictions for number counts of extragalactic rad io sources and their impact on CMB experiments DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111028T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111028T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-159975@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Extragalactic radio sources constitute the most relevant conta mination of CMB maps at small angular scales. Current and future high--res olution experiments at mm/submm wavelengths require very accurate estimate s of the contribution of undetected point sources to CMB anisotropies and polarization. In this talk I present a new model to predict number counts of extragalactic radio sources at frequencies 5GHz. In particular\, I focu s on blazars\, i.e. the dominant source population at high frequencies. Th e approach is somewhat different than before\, because a statistical chara cterization of source spectral behaviours is provided on the basis of the standard models of synchrotron emission from inhomogeneous relativistic AG N jets. These models predict a break in the flat spectrum of blazars\, cor responding to a transition from the optically-thick to the optically-thin regime in the observed synchrotron emission. Finally\, I present the resul ts on number counts of radio sources: they show a very good agreement with the observational data\, that cover a large frequency range up to ~220 GH z. I discuss also implications for the CMB measurements of Planck and futu re experiments\, both in temperature and in polarization.\n\nSeminars Top \n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=159975 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=159975 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Clusters\, clustering and cosmology DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111104T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111104T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-161213@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will describe the framework that is commonly used to convert observations of nonlinear structures (galaxies\, clusters\, superclusters \, voids) into constraints on the expansion history of the Universe\, with an emphasis on what does and does not survive changes to the standard ass umptions about the nature of the initial conditions and gravity.\n\nhttp:/ /indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=161213 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=161213 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Some aspects of Loop Quantum Cosmology DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111104T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111104T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-161214@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Loop quantum gravity is\, together with string theory\, one on the major tentative approach to quantize gravity. It provides a framework leading to non-perturbative and background-independent canonical quantiza tion of general relativity. In this talk\, I will briefly go through the b asic conceptual groundings of the theory and switch to the latest developm ents associated with its implementation in the cosmological context. I wil l show that the Big Bang is replaced by a Big Bounce (therefore solving th e initial singularity problem) and that inflation nearly unavoidably occur s. Furthermore\, the primordial tensor power spectrum should exhibit some characteristic features that could lead to experimental tests of this "Pla nck-scale" physics.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=1 61214 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=161214 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Nonlinear Structure Formation in a Warm Dark Matter Universe DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111118T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111118T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-162795@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The LambdaWDM cosmology is a promising alternative dark matter scenario\, leading to a modified structure formation in the universe. I w ill talk about the nonlinear evolution in WDM\, presenting two different a pproaches\, an adapted halo model calculation and numerical simulations.\n \nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=162795 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=162795 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cosmic Inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111118T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111118T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-163240@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will review the most plausible theory for how t he \nprimordial fluctuations that seed the growth of large scale structur e \nare formed: cosmic inflation. I will explain how quantum fluctuations \nof the proposed inflaton field are generated during inflation\, \nemp hasizing the often implicit role of symmetries. I will then go on \nto de scribe a number of alternatives to the standard inflationary \nparadigm\, and how these alternatives can be tested by the potential \nobservations of non-Gaussianities in the primordial power spectrum.\n\nhttp://indico.c ern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=163240 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=163240 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:New Perspective on Galaxy Clustering and Cosmology: General Relati vistic Effects DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111125T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111125T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-163922@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The standard description of galaxy clustering is theoretically inconsistent in the context of general relativity\, as it is based on New tonian description. The proper general relativistic description of the obs erved galaxy clustering is substantially different from the standard Newto nian description on large scales\, providing a unique opportunity to test general relativity on horizon scales. We discuss its implications for curr ent and future surveys.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?conf Id=163922 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=163922 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Inflationary cosmology from the unified Dirac-Born-Infeld Galileon model DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111209T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111209T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-165220@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflationary model and the Galileo n modified gravity model were recently shown to emerge as different limits of the same theory in which the DBI action governing the motion of a D3-b rane in a higher-dimensional spacetime is supplemented with an induced gra vity term. The latter reduces to the quartic Galileon Lagrangian when the motion of the brane is non-relativistic and we show that it tends to viola te the null energy condition and to render cosmological fluctuations ghost s. There nonetheless exists an interesting parameter space in which a stab le phase of quasi-exponential expansion can be achieved while the induced gravity leaves non trivial imprints. We derive the exact second-order acti on governing the dynamics of linear perturbations and we show that it can be simply understood through a bimetric perspective. In the relativistic r egime\, we also calculate the dominant contribution to the primordial bisp ectrum and demonstrate that large non-Gaussianities of orthogonal shape ca n be generated\, for the first time in a concrete model. More generally\, we find that the sign and the shape of the bispectrum offer powerful diagn ostics of the precise strength of the induced gravity.\n\nhttp://indico.ce rn.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=165220 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=165220 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:What do galaxy surveys really measure? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111209T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111209T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-165221@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:A key challenge in cosmology is understanding the current acce lerated expansion of the universe. The distribution of galaxies and more p articularly its time evolution are sensitive to the mechanism generating a cceleration. Galaxy surveys\, which map the distribution of galaxies at va rious redshifts\, are therefore very useful in cosmology. However in order to exploit this observable properly it is necessary to understand what we are really measuring when we look at the distribution of galaxies. Since our universe is not completely homogeneous and isotropic\, we only see a d istorted picture of the true distribution. In this talk\, I will discuss t he various relativistic effects that distort our observations. I will show that even though these effects complicate the interpretation of galaxy su rveys\, they are extremely useful since they contain information on the dy namic of the universe and can therefore be regarded as a new opportunity f or future surveys.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=16 5221 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=165221 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Numerical simulations of the primordial Universe DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111216T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20111216T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-166405@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In the talk the main issues of cosmic structures will be revie wed\, with\nparticular focus on the primordial Universe.\nResults from N-b ody\, hydrodynamical\, chemistry simulations of structure\nformation in a cosmological context will be presented\, and the transition\nfrom the pris tine star formation regime (population III) to the standard\nmetal-enriche d one (population II) will be discussed.\nAdditional emphasis will be give n to the consequences of early metal\npollution from first objects and to the impacts of different underlying\n(Gaussian and Non-Gaussian)\, matter distributions.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=166405 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=166405 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Solving the KPZ equation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120217T070000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120217T080000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-178790@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=178790 LOCATION:Geneva University Salle 17 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=178790 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Recent developments in massive gravity DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120309T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120309T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-181192@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Some recent developments in massive gravity are critically dis cussed. In particular\, the Stuckelberg formulation that requires an addit ional non dynamical given metric is compared with an alternative approach where the extra metric is dynamical. The physically important cases of sph erically symmetric solutions and cosmological FRW solutions are discussed. \n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=181192 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=181192 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Galaxy bias and non-linear Structure formation in General Relativi ty DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120316T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120316T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-182199@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Galaxy clustering surveys and cosmological N-body simulations are approaching horizon scales. Furthermore\, it has been recently shown t hat primordial non-Gaussianities of the local kind alter the low-k behavio ur of the galaxy power spectrum\, making it a promising probe for constrai nts on inflationary physics. Thus far\, theoretical predictions have relie d on Newtonian prescriptions for matter and galaxy clustering. The latter can be understood in the local bias model\, where the collapsing short sca le fluctuations are coupled to the underlying long wavelength matter fluct uations. I will explain why a Newtonian treatment of the coupling between small and large scales is potentially dangerous and show how the coupling can be treated in a General Relativistic context\, using an effective curv ed local Universe. From this coupling we infer the correct relativistic pr escription for galaxy biasing\, which can then be employed to construct ga uge-invariant predictions for large scale structure surveys. Finally\, I w ill explain how one can include long wavelength fluctuations into intermed iate scale simulations and how this technique can be used to shed light on the mass dependence of galaxy bias and the Ly-alpha forest.\n\nhttp://ind ico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=182199 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=182199 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Gravitational waves from coalescing binaries DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120316T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120316T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-182201@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The large interferometers LIGO and Virgo are expected to start the gravitational astronomy era in a few years. After giving an overview of the past results and near future plan of the gravitational wave search campaign\, the candidate sources for a first detection will be described\, focusing on compact binary astrophysical systems. The signal emitted by c oalescing compact binaries is particularly sensitive to the gravity laws r uling the source motion and thus represents an unprecedented window to stu dy fundamental gravity.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?conf Id=182201 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=182201 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Physicality of the Halo Mass Function: Recent Insights from Numeri cal and Analytical Approaches DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120330T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120330T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-184340@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The physical modeling of the dark matter halo mass distributio n is key to understanding the complex mechanisms that drive the late time cosmic structure formation. Over the past decades the halo mass function h as been primarily investigated using numerical N-body simulations. In this talk I will review recent numerical studies and discuss the physical sign ificance of the results in the light of the path-integral formulation of t he Excursion Set Theory.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?con fId=184340 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=184340 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Symmetries of the primordial perturbations DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120330T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120330T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-184341@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Primordial perturbations are (approximately) scale-invariant. Dilations are usually related with the full conformal group SO(4\,1): what is the role of these transformations? I will show that in all models in w hich the source of perturbations is decoupled from the inflaton\, correlat ion functions enjoy full conformal symmetry. Moreover\, in any single-fiel d inflation model the conformal group is non-linearly realized and this im plies the existence of new conformal consistency relations.\n\nhttp://indi co.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=184341 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=184341 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Novel results on generation and evolution of the magnetic fields i n the Standard Model plasma DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120427T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120427T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-187891@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:It is generally believed that the ground state of the Standard Model at high temperatures is homogeneous and isotropic. This assumption underlies the description of many important processes in the early Univers e. I will demonstrate that at non-zero values of baryon and lepton number a translation invariant and homogeneous state of the plasma becomes unstab le and the system transits into a new state\, containing a large-scale mag netic field. The origin of this effect is the parity-breaking character of weak interactions and chiral anomaly. The influence of chiral anomaly on the subsequent evolution of the magnetic fields shall also be discussed.\n \nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=187891 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=187891 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Perturbations and particle creation in non-commutative inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120504T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120504T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-189262@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We compute the power spectrum of a free scalar field for non-c ommutative inflation numerically which is found to be the vacuum spectrum n = 3. Procedure is checked on slow-roll (power-law) inflation and leads t o the well-know result n ≃ 1. We discuss two definitions of the classica l energy density of a scalar field in a Friedmann universe: The energy obt ained from the gravitational energy-momentum tensor and obtained from the canonical energy-momentum tensor of the canonical field Χ= a Φ. We expla in the difference in terms of its generating function. Adiabatically renor malized energies to order 0\, 2 and 4 are compared analytically and numeri cally for slow-roll and non-commutative inflation.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.c h/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=189262 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=189262 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Galaxy bias: Gaussian and non-Gaussian\, local and non-local DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120511T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120511T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-190569@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will discuss recent work modeling the clustering of galaxies and how it can be used to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity generated during inflation.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=190 569 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=190569 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Backreaction as a source for Inflation? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120518T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120518T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-191362@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will consider spatially averaged inhomogeneous universe mode ls and argue that\, already in the absence of sources\, an effective scala r field arises through foliating and spatially averaging inhomogeneous geo metrical curvature invariants of the Einstein vacuum. I will use this scal ar field to show how a period of inflation can be induced by this phenomen on and\, more importantly\, how initial conditions for this inflation era can be reinterpreted.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId =191362 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=191362 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY: Lensing reconstruction from suborbital CMB polarization experimen ts and the effect of foregrounds DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120525T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120525T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-192052@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will describe about the investigation we carrie d out on the possible impact of Galactic polarized dust emission on the de tection of the lensing signal. This analysis is crucial for several ongoin g and ground-based and balloon-borne CMB polarization experiments includin g ACTPol\, SPTPol\, EBEX and POLARBEAR\, which will target the lensing sig nal in the next couple of years using measurements of CMB polarization in the frequency range 90-410 GHz. In particular our work focus on performing a case study of an EBEX-like experimental configuration which\, owing to observing constraints\, will most likely survey a region of sky where Gala ctic foregrounds in the form of polarized dust emission may be significant . I will briefly review the Hu and Okamoto quadratic estimator and describ e our result which considers a possible multi-frequency cleaning of this f oreground.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=192052 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=192052 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Towards the Future of Supernova Cosmology DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120601T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120601T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-193885@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Future surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey and the Large Sy noptic Survey Telescope will produce an unprecedented amount of photometri c supernova data\, not all of which can be followed up spectroscopically. Light curve fitting techniques can provide a probability that an object is a Type Ia supernova\, but contamination from other types of supernovae ca n lead to biases to the estimation of cosmological parameters. BEAMS (Baye sian Estimation Applied to Multiple Species) is a fully Bayesian analysis technique designed to take contamination into account and produce unbiased estimates of the parameters. BEAMS is a general technique which should be applied in any situation where contamination from other types of objects is possible. In this talk\, I will explain how BEAMS works and how it is a pplied to supernova cosmology. I will also briefly discuss my current work on extending BEAMS to deal with correlated data.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch /conferenceDisplay.py?confId=193885 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=193885 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Update on the Planck Satellite DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120601T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120601T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-193887@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The Planck Satellite\, Europe's successor to NASA's COBE and W MAP satellites\, was launched in 2009 and has performed almost flawlessly since. As no primordial CMB results have yet been released\, this talk wil l focus on the conception\, realization\, operation and early exploitation of the data\, with only hints of what our cosmological goals will be. I w ill survey the papers that have been released\, preview those about to be released\, and discuss our hopes for the ultimate releases. I will also de scribe the mission timeline\, highlight our biggest surprises and problems \, and give the data release schedule.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conference Display.py?confId=193887 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=193887 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY: A lazy universe inflates DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120607T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120607T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-194538@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The introduction of a delay in the Friedmann equation of cosmo logical evolution\, viewed as a dynamical system\, is shown to result in t he very early universe undergoing the necessary accelerated expansion in t he usual radiation (or matter) dominated phase. This occurs without a viol ation of the strong energy condition. Moreover\, the expansion slows down naturally to go over to the decelerated phase\, namely the standard Hubble expansion. This seems to obviate the need for a scalar field driven infla tionary epoch.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=194538 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=194538 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Large Scale Structure through Peculiar Velocities in Current a nd Future Data DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120928T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120928T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-210385@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Peculiar motions of galaxies are our only direct probe of the large scale\ndistribution of dark matter. Currently the peculiar motions o f a few thousand \ngalaxies are available from distance indicator measurem ents (e.g. Tully-Fisher \ndata). Despite numerous difficulties\, those mea surements provide important \nconstraints on the cosmological model and t he way galaxies trace the dark\nmatter. \nIn particular the gravitational force field computed from the distribution of\ngalaxies in the Two Mass R edshift Survey is well aligned with the peculiar \nmotions of galaxies. Al so the bulk flow estimated from the peculiar motions \nis found consistent with predictions of the standard LCDM model. \nThe talk will discuss seve ral new/old methods for extracting the cosmological\npeculiar velocity fi eld independent of traditional distant indicators. Those method \nare main ly relevant for large surveys of galaxies such as EUCLID.\n\nhttp://indico .cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=210385 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=210385 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Effective Field Theory in Inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121001T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121001T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-210553@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Although the observed CMB is at very low energy\, it encodes u ltra high-energy physics in spatial variations of the photon\ntemperature and polarization fluctuations. This effect is believed to be dominated by the initial quantum state of the\nUniverse. I will describe the first theo retical tools by which to construct such a state from fundamental physics. One can then use this technique to reliably calculate corrections to the power spectrum\, non-Gaussianity\, etc from high-energy physics. We may so on be able to compare these predictions against experiment\, allowing one to rule out classes of inflationary models. Now is the critical time to un dertake such investigations\, with a number of ongoing and planned experim ents such as Planck and CMBPol/Inflation Probe poised to collect a wealth of precision data.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=21 0553 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=210553 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Two examples of data analysis techniques applied to astronomical p roblems DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121026T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121026T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-214279@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Two examples of data analysis techniques applied to astronomic al problems are discussed. The first example is taken from weak lensing an d deals with the use of image deconvolution for accurate measurement of th e cosmic shear. The second example concerns the application of the Kolmogo rov stochasticity parameter (KSP) to detect point source candidates in WMA P data.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=214279 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=214279 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:On Quantum and IR effects in Single Field Inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121116T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121116T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-217642@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Studying loop corrections to inflationary perturbations\, with particular emphasis on infrared factors\, is important to understand the consistency of the inflationary theory\, its predictivity and to establish the existence of the slow-roll eternal inflation phenomena and its recent ly found volume bound. In single field inflation\, the coupling between mo des of very different scales leads to apparently large effects\, such as a dependence on the longest possible and on shortest possible modes. I will argue that these interactions represent no significant dynamical effect d uring inflation. They lead to interesting projection effects. Larger and s maller modes change the relation between the scale a mode of interest will appear in the post-inflationary universe and will also change the time of horizon crossing of that mode. I will argue that there are no infrared pr ojection effects in physical questions\, that there are no effects from mo des of longer wavelength than the one of interest. These potential effects cancel when computing fluctuations as a function of physically measurable scales. Modes on scales smaller than the one of interest change the mapp ing between horizon crossing time and scale. The correction to the mapping computed in the absence of fluctuations is enhanced by a factor N_e\, the number of e-folds of inflation between horizon crossing and reheating. Th e new mapping is stochastic in nature but its variance is not enhanced by N_e.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=217642 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=217642 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Averaging the luminosity distance in a perturbed FLRW Universe: fr om theory to observations. DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121116T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121116T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-217643@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:What happens to the luminosity distance when we consider a sto chastically\ninhomogeneous Universe and\, at a fixed redshift\, we average it over the\nsky ?\n\nI will try to give the answer to this physically re levant question by\npresenting a recent formalism\, namely the "covariant averaging over the\npast light-cone of a geodesic observer"\, in the conte xt of a perturbed\nFLRW Universe. I will use it in a system of coordinates (the "geodesic\nlight-cone coordinates") very well adapted to such kind o f calculations\nand will arrive to the luminosity distance at second order in the Poisson\ngauge (for scalars\, vectors and tensors) necessary to th is computation.\nThe application range of this last relation is broad: goi ng from SW and ISW\nstudies to lensing and redshift space distortions.\n\n Using these derived tools\, I will show how the luminosity distance is\naf fected\, describing a small shift (~10^{-3}) in its average but a much\nbr oader standard-deviation (depending on the power spectrum used to\ndescrib e the inhomogeneities)\, leading to a potentially “precision\nthreshold ” at percent level on the measurement of d_L and thus of the dark\nenerg y parameter. I will then conclude (if time authorize it) on the\nimportanc e of the observables themselves when averaged over stochastic\ninhomogenei ties\, a distinction not present in homogeneous models.\n\nhttp://indico.c ern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=217643 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stuckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=217643 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Looking for backreaction in the observable Universe DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121130T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121130T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-219240@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We review the main features of the model of cosmological backr eaction (Buchert et al.)\, focusing mainly on the general relativistic asp ects of the model: commutation rule\, effective dynamics of a finite domai n\, effective cosmological parameters. We point out a way to compare predi ctions from the backreaction model with current data describing the templa te metric proposed in a paper by Larena et al. (2008). Finally we constrai n such template metric with distance data from SN Ia surveys and SZ measur ements of distant clusters\, showing our very preliminary results.\n\nhttp ://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=219240 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=219240 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Massive Gravity on Cosmological Backgrounds DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121207T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121207T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-220664@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:I will discuss generally covariant theories of non-linear \nm assive gravity admitting isotropic background solutions. The question \no f cosmological solutions can be addressed in massive gravity theories \nw ith flat as well as with arbitrary reference metrics. I will first \nrevi ew the exact isotropic solutions of the non-linear massive gravity \nwith flat reference metric. In this theory the effective \nenergy-momentum te nsor arising from the mass term gives a cosmological \nconstant like cont ribution for any isotropic matter distribution. \nHowever\, metric pertur bations around this solution do not have a mass \nterm of the Fierz-Pauli form. I will then discuss massive gravity with \narbitrary reference met ric. We show that restoring the diffeomorphism \ninvariance in this theor y by introducing the four Stueckelberg scalars \nis equivalent to introdu cing an additional symmetry in the internal \nspace of the scalar fields. Thus for each particular choice of the \nreference metric this gives a d ifferent generally covariant massive \ngravity theory with different symm etries.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=220664 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=220664 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Phase space density constraints for Warm Dark Matter models DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121214T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20121214T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-220665@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Warm Dark Matter is a CDM modification for which particle velo cities are not negligible. Such modifications are introduced in order to s olve some of the CDM issues on subgalactic scales. We discuss the constrai nts that warm dark matter particles have to satisfy in order to share the experimental success of CDM on cosmological scales. We apply these constra ints to the realistic scenarios with sterile neutrino and light gravitino as dark matter particles.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?co nfId=220665 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=220665 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Local and nonlocal halo bias DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130201T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130201T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-232519@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In order to extract cosmological information from the galaxy s urveys\, the halo bias must be understood. We extend the standard local b ias to include the nonlocal effects. It is shown that large scale gravitat ional evolution naturally induces nonlocal corrections to the halo biasing prescription. The proposed nonlocal effects are measured in numerical sim ulations. We also develop a novel test of local bias\, and argue that the smoothing scale in the local biasing prescription controls the scale at wh ich the the prescription measures. By using a simple mapping\, we demonstr ate that local biasing prescription can be used to recover the original un smoothed power spectrum rather well.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDi splay.py?confId=232519 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=232519 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Constraining the small scale perturbations in a big universe DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130208T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130208T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-234072@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Even in the “precision era” of cosmology\, measurements of the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure only cover arou nd three orders of magnitude in length scales. However\, another 30 orders of magnitude in length scales must also have exited the horizon during in flation\, but these smaller scales remain unobserved. Primordial Black Hol es (PBHs) can form in the early universe from the collapse of large densit y fluctuations. Tight observational limits on their abundance provide the best upper limit on the size of the primordial fluctuations on small scale s\, with PBHs only forming from extremely large and rare density fluctuati ons. The number of PBHs formed is therefore highly sensitive to small chan ges in the tail of the fluctuations probability density function\, which p robes non-Gaussianity.\n\nWe study how local non-Gaussianity of arbitrary size (parameterised by fNL and gNL) changes the PBH abundance and the resu lting constraints on the amplitude of the fluctuations on very small scale s. Intriguingly\, even non-linearity parameters of order unity have a sign ificant impact on the PBH abundance. The sign of the non-Gaussianity is pa rticularly important\, with the constraint on the allowed fluctuation ampl itude tightening by an order of magnitude as fNL changes from just -0.5 to +0.5. If PBHs are observed in the future then negative fNL on these scale s would be ruled out\, regardless of the amplitude of the fluctuations.\n\ nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=234072 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=234072 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cosmology with future galaxy surveys DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130222T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130222T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-237709@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The next generation of large-volume galaxy surveys will gather an unprecedented amount of information about our cosmic neighbourhood. I will briefly review some of the cosmologically interesting observable qua ntities that can be extracted from these measurements: the power spectrum of the galaxy distribution\, weak lensing\, and counts of galaxy clusters . Focussing on the hunt for the elusive mass of the neutrinos\, I will di scuss the discovery potential of these surveys\, keeping in mind both expe rimental and theoretical systematics.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceD isplay.py?confId=237709 LOCATION:Geneva University 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=237709 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Minimal Inflation DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130301T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130301T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-238895@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Inflation remains the best model to explain some of the observ ed properties of the Universe and specially the origin of galaxies and str uctures as quantum fluctuations of the inflation field. The next challenge is to find the inflation itself. In this talk I will review some of the c urrent constraints on the nature of the inflation and will elaborate in de tail on our recent proposal to identify the inflation with the condensate that is the order parameter of SUSY breaking.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/con ferenceDisplay.py?confId=238895 LOCATION:Geneva University Room234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=238895 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY: The conformal standard model DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130301T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130301T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-238896@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:It has been known for some time that classically unbroken conf ormal symmetry may provide a possible mechanism towards explaining the sta bility of the electroweak scale w.r.t. the Planck scale\, alternative to l ow energy supersymmetry. In this talk I will review some of my work with K . Meissner and argue that this is a viable possibility if (1) there are no intermediate scales of any kind\, and (2) the RG evolved standard model c ouplings exhibit neither Landau poles nor instabilities up to the Planck s cale\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=238896 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=238896 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Massive Cosmology and Quantum Consistency DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130308T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130308T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-240092@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Recently there has been a successful non-linear covariant ghos t-free generalization of Fierz-Pauli massive\ngravity theory\, the dRGT th eory. I will explore the cosmology in the decoupling limit of this theory. \nFurthermore\, I will quickly discuss a Proxy to dRGT and study the cosmo logy there as well and compare the\nresults. I will comment on the effects coming from quantum loops and the consequences for the reliability of the \ntheory.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=240092 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=240092 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Conformal consistency relation for single-field inflation and its observation. DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130315T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130315T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-240979@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We show how in any single-field model\, primordial correlation functions of \\zeta are endowed with an SO(4\,1) symmetry\, with dilation s and special conformal transformations non-linearly realized by \\zeta. T his allows us to generalize the single-field consistency relations to capt ure not only the leading term in the squeezed limit---going as 1/q^3\, whe re q is the small wavevector---but also the subleading one\, going as 1/q^ 2. This term\, for an (n+1)-point function\, is fixed in terms of the vari ation of the n-point function under a special conformal transformation. In light of this\, we consider whether the non-Gaussian scale-dependent halo bias can be used not only to observe the local form of non-Gaussianity bu t also to distinguish among different shapes through the constraints on th e behavior of the primordial three-point function in the squeezed limit.\n \nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=240979 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=240979 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Gravitational radiation from compact binary star systems. DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130315T131500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130315T141500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-240981@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:To be observed and analyzed by the gravitational wave detector s LIGO and VIRGO on ground and LISA in space\, inspiralling compact binari es (binary star systems composed of neutron stars and/or black holes) requ ire high-accuracy templates predicted by general relativity. These very re lativistic systems are ideally suited for application of a high-order post -Newtonian gravitational wave generation formalism. In this talk\, after g eneral introduction and motivation\, we shall review the current state of the art on post-Newtonian methods as applied to the motion and gravitation al radiation of compact binary systems. We shall then present some work on the comparison between the post-Newtonian approximation and black hole pe rturbation theory as applied to compact binary systems with very small mas s ratio. Finally we shall discuss some interesting aspect of the dynamics of black hole binaries\, which can appropriately be called the "first law of black hole binary mechanics".\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDispla y.py?confId=240981 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=240981 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Nonthermal Dark Matter Production from the Electroweak Phase Trans ition: Heavy WIMP's and BabyZillas DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130322T103000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130322T113000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-240980@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We review the particle production at the end of a first-order electroweak phase transition\, showing that it may be rather generic in th eories beyond the standard model. Dark matter may then be abundantly produ ced by this mechanism if it has a sizable coupling to the Higgs field. For an electroweak phase transition occuring at a temperature T_EW ~ 50-100 G eV\, non-thermally generated dark matter with mass M_X > few TeV will surv ive thermalization after the phase transition\, and could then potentially account for the observed dark matter relic density in scenarios where a t hermal dark matter component is either too small or absent. Dark matter in these scenarios could then either be multi-TeV WIMPs whose relic abundace is mostly generated at the electroweak phase transition\, or ``Baby-Zilla s" with mass M_GUT >> M_X >> v_EW that never reach thermal equilibrium in the early universe.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=2 40980 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=240980 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Standard Model of Nature: Lessons from Two Success Stories DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130325T160000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130325T170000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-242899@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Our present standard model of Nature is based on general relat ivity for gravity and on a gauge theory for all other fundamental interact ions. Its amazing successes --and its puzzles-- may carry some important l essons for our quest of a truly unified theory of space\, time\, and matte r.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=242899 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=242899 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Tracers of Large-Scale Structure DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130412T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130412T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-246551@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The cosmic web carries a wealth of information about the cosmo logical origin and evolution of our Universe. Galaxy redshift surveys aim at reconstructing its large-scale structure\, providing powerful means to probe fundamental physics. However\, galaxies are biased and stochastic tr acers of the dominant dark matter distribution\, limiting the attainable a ccuracy on this reconstruction. A second limitation arises due to cosmic v ariance\, a consequence of the fact that only a finite patch of our Univer se is observable.\n\nOn the basis of numerical N-body simulations I will p resent a technique to optimize the information content encoded in the stat istics of biased tracers of the dark matter density field. In concert with a multi-tracer approach to evade the cosmic variance limit\, an optimal w eighting scheme that minimizes the stochasticity of galaxies is presented and applied to halo catalogs.\n\nIn the second part of my talk I will disc uss the prospects of considering cosmic voids as tracers of large-scale st ructure. While clusters\, filaments and walls have all entered different s tages of nonlinear evolution during cosmic history\, voids represent struc tures that are still close to linear and therefore more easily related to the initial conditions of the Universe.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenc eDisplay.py?confId=246551 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=246551 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:On the non-linear scale of cosmological perturbation theory DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130419T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130419T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-247917@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Cosmological perturbation theory is an analytical tool to dete rmine the dark matter power spectrum from the primordial fluctuations. How ever\, it fails to converge at late times due to non-linear effects. In th is talk we discuss several approaches to resummation in cosmological pertu rbation theory. After a short introduction\, standard perturbation theory (SPT)\, renormalized perturbation theory (RPT) and the eikonal approximati on are reviewed. Finally\, a generalization to RPT is presented that eluci dates the relation between these schemes.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/confere nceDisplay.py?confId=247917 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=247917 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:On the fate of the Standard Model after the Higgs discovery DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130419T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130419T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-247918@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:We discuss the implications of the Higgs mass measurement for the stability of Higgs potential and\, more generally\, for the completion of the Standard Model at high energies.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferen ceDisplay.py?confId=247918 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=247918 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Higgs-Dilaton Cosmology: An effective field theory approach DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130426T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130426T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-248731@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:The Higgs-Dilaton cosmological model describes simultaneously an inflationary period in the early Universe and a dark energy dominated s tage responsible for the present day acceleration. The common origin of bo th processes gives rise to a non-trivial relation between the spectral til t of scalar perturbations and the dark energy equation of state. We study the self-consistency of this model from an effective field theory point of view. Taking into account the influence of the dynamical background field s we determine the effective cut-off of the theory\, which turns out to be parametrically larger than all the relevant energy scales from inflation to the present epoch. We finally formulate the set of assumptions needed to estimate the amplitude of the quantum corrections in a systematic way a nd show that the connection between the early and late universe observable s remains unchanged if these conditions are satisfied.\n\nhttp://indico.ce rn.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=248731 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=248731 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Is there evidence for additional neutrinos species from cosmology? DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130503T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130503T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-250275@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:It has been suggested that recent cosmological and flavor-osci llation data favor the existence of additional neutrino species beyond the three predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. We apply Bayes ian model selection to determine whether there is indeed any evidence from current cosmological datasets for the standard cosmological model to be e xtended to include additional neutrino flavors. The datasets employed incl ude cosmic microwave background temperature\, polarization and lensing pow er spectra\, and measurements of the baryon acoustic oscillation scale and the Hubble constant. We also consider other extensions to the standard ne utrino model\, such as massive neutrinos\, and possible degeneracies with other cosmological parameters. The Bayesian evidence indicates that curren t cosmological data do not require any non-standard neutrino properties.\n \nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=250275 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=250275 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Standard Model of Nature: Lessons from Two Success Stories DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130506T150000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130506T160000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-250276@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Our present standard model of Nature is based on general relat ivity for gravity and on a gauge theory for all other fundamental interact ions. Its amazing successes --and its puzzles-- may carry some important l essons for our quest of a truly unified theory of space\, time\, and matte r.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=250276 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=250276 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:May the Force NOT be with you DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130507T100000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130507T110000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-251050@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Alternative theories of gravity have received considerable att ention recently as a possible explanation to cosmic acceleration. If the m odification involves a scalar field\, such theories introduce an additiona l Force\, whose strength is tightly constrained by local gravity tests. Ho wever\, these theories might still have a considerable impact on cosmologi cal scales while remaining hidden in the Solar System by means of screenin g mechanisms. In many cases\, these theories are analyzed in a frame in wh ich the scalar couples explicitly to the trace of the energy momentum tens or - a conformal coupling. I will present a generalization of this set-up\ , based on a disformal coupling to matter\, which offers new insights into screening mechanisms\, connections between a broader class of scalar-tens or theories of gravity and a variety of phenomenological applications.\n\n http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=251050 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=251050 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Characterization of the primordial non-Gaussianity using the aniso tropies of the CMB DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130517T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130517T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-252141@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will focus on the physics of inflation that we can learn by studying the statistical properties of the Cosmic Microwave B ackground (CMB) anisotropies. The canonical models of inflation predict th at the primordial fluctuations present in the CMB anisotropies are nearly Gaussian. Therefore the detection of any possible non-Gaussian signal with a primordial origin would be very helpful to discriminate among different inflationary scenarios and select those that best fit to observations. I will introduce the shapes of the bispectra that some of these non-canonica l cases would imprint in the CMB anisotropies and the estimators currently used to measure this type of non-Gaussianity. I will also review the most important sources that may contaminate this primordial non-Gaussian signa l\, such as the extragalactic point sources or the lensing. Finally I will present the estimates on this type of non-Gaussianity obtained within my contribution to the Planck mission using an estimator based on wavelets.\n \nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=252141 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=252141 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Effective perfect fluids in cosmoloy DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130524T093000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130524T103000Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-253746@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:A perfect fluid can be described as a derivatively coupled the ory whose precise structure is determined by the fluid’s symmetries. Thi s is an effective theory of three scalar fields that represent the comovin g coordinates of the fluid. I will discuss how to use this framework in co smological perturbation theory. The longitudinal modes of fluids are assoc iated to adiabatic perturbations\, while the transverse modes mix with the vector metric perturbations ensuring the conservation of vorticity.\n\nht tp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=253746 LOCATION:Geneva University Room 234 URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=253746 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Testing local isotropy with weak lensing DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130524T121500Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130524T131500Z DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20130522T074826Z UID:indico-event-253747@cern.ch DESCRIPTION:Spatial local isotropy is one of the properties that undelines the Copernican principle which plays a central role in the construction o f the standard cosmological model. I will recall the formulation of this p rinciple and summarize its implications. I will then describe a test based on weak lensing observations\, that I recently proposed in collaboration with Cyril Pitrou and Thiago Pereira and that hopefully can be implemented with the Euclid observations.\n\nhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay. py?confId=253747 LOCATION:Geneva University Auditoire Stueckelberg URL:http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=253747 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR