Speaker
Description
Observations of the Lyman-α flux have been long believed to be in overall good agreement with the ΛCDM cosmology inferred from early-time probes of the universe. However, recent analyses focused on the compatibility between the latter and various Lyman-α datasets have reported hints (at the 2-3σ level) of an apparent inconsistency in the determination of the tilt of the matter power spectrum at Lyman-α scales between the two estimates. Although a lot of work still needs to be carried out to understand the strength and solidity of such discrepancy, this has inevitably raised the intriguing question of whether a better fit to the data than ΛCDM can be found. In light of these considerations, in this talk I will first of all briefly introduce the evidence in support of this emerging tension and then propose some concrete examples of the potential for discovery that such eventuality would entail.
