Understanding the early Universe

Europe/Zurich
CERN

CERN

Description

Our understanding of the early Universe has greatly increased in the past few years due to the high-quality observational data on the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure. The unprecedented precision of the Planck results enabled to significantly restrict the range of allowed inflationary models. The quest for measuring the primordial B-mode polarization, which would have profound implications, has acquired a new boost from the results of BICEP2 collaboration. Still, the remaining possibilities are too diverse and a theoretical input is required to reduce them further. It is time to ask what common features distinguish the inflationary models favored by the data, what symmetry principles can stand behind them and how they can be incorporated in a complete quantum theory containing the Standard Model and gravity.

The reheating stage that follows inflation in the evolution of the Universe is characterized by violent dynamics, whose details are highly model-dependent. Therefore any direct observational signal from this stage can potentially teach us  a lot about the theory describing Nature at energy scales well beyond those reached at colliders. However, in general, most probes carrying information from reheating are either inaccessible by current technology, degenerate with other post-reheating phenomena, or washed away by the subsequent thermalization. It is important to understand, which part of the information remains and how it can be decoded.

The aim of this Theory Institute is to bring together researchers interested in the physics of the early Universe to discuss the above and related questions. The program will include review talks on the latest experimental data including the Planck release expected at the end of 2014.

The Institute is funded jointly by CERN and by Korean Government under the CERN-Korea Collaboration agreement; it is included in the framework of the PACT activities in 2015 with the  support from APPEC. 

Topics:

  • Inflationary theory in light of latest experimental data
  • Universality classes of inflationary models
  • Embedding inflation into quantum gravity  
  • Consistent theories of graceful exit and reheating
  • Primordial non-Gaussianities and gravitational waves
  • Large Scale Structure as a probe of the early Universe
  • Other future probes

Speakers:

  • C. Bonvin (CERN)
  • E. Branchini (INFN/Roma Tre)
  • C. Burgess (McMaster U/Perimeter/CERN)
  • C. Byrnes  (Sussex U.)
  • P. Creminelli (ICTP)
  • V. Desjacques (University of Geneva)
  • M. Drewes (Munich, Tech. U.)
  • R. Durrer (University of Geneva)
  • R. Flauger (Carnegie Mellon)
  • J.-O. Gong (APCTP)
  • K. Kadota (IBS Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe) 
  • A. Lewis (Sussex U.)
  • J. Martin (APC)
  • A. Melchiorri (INFN/Rome La Sapienza)
  • A. Nusser (Technion)
  • A. Rajantie (Imperial College)
  • A. Rassat (EPFL)
  • D. Roest (Groningen U.)
  • L. Roszkowski (NCBJ)
  • M. Shaposhnikov (EPFL)
  • L. Senatore (Stanford)
  • A. Westphal (DESY)

Organizers: Diego Blas, Daniel Figueroa, Deog-Ki Hong, Julien Lesgourgues, Antonio Masiero, Antonio Riotto,  Sergey Sibiryakov

Participants
  • Adi Nusser
  • Alessandro Melchiorri
  • Alessandro STRUMIA
  • Alessio Notari
  • Alexander Vikman
  • Alexander Westphal
  • Anais Rassat
  • ANTONIO RIOTTO
  • Antony Lewis
  • Arttu Rajantie
  • Azadeh Moradinezhad
  • Bumseok Kyae
  • Camille Bonvin
  • Christian Byrnes
  • Cliff Burgess
  • Daniel G. Figueroa
  • Deog-Ki Hong
  • Diana Laura LOPEZ NACIR
  • Diederik Roest
  • Diego Blas Temino
  • Ekaterina Pozdeeva
  • Eleonora Di Valentino
  • Emin Nugaev
  • Enrico Morgante
  • Enzo Branchini
  • Eva Silverstein
  • Francisco Torrenti
  • Gabriele Trevisan
  • GEORGIOS KARANANAS
  • Giovanni Marozzi
  • Giuseppe Fanizza
  • Giuseppe Iacobellis
  • Guillermo Ballesteros
  • Ignacy Sawicki
  • Ila Garg
  • Isabella Masina
  • Jaspreet Sandhu
  • Jerome Martin
  • Jinn-Ouk Gong
  • Joseph Conlon
  • Kenji Kadota
  • Ki-Young Choi
  • Kiran Adhikari
  • Kohei Kamada
  • Kwan Chuen Chan
  • Kyriakos Tamvakis
  • Leonardo Senatore
  • Leszek Roszkowski
  • Manuel Vielma
  • Marco Drewes
  • marco tucci
  • Martin Kunz
  • Matteo Biagetti
  • McCullen Sandora
  • Michela D'Onofrio
  • Mikhail Shaposhnikov
  • Mohamed Anber
  • Murli Verma
  • Mustafa Amin
  • Paolo Creminelli
  • Raphael Flauger
  • Ruth Durrer
  • Sabir Ramazanov
  • Sachin Baruwal
  • sangam lamichhane
  • Sebastian Trojanowski
  • Seokcheon Lee
  • Sergey Sibiryakov
  • Sergey Vernov
  • Shahzeb Kamal
  • Silvia Galli
  • steen hannestad
  • Stefano Foffa
  • Subodh Patil
  • Tomas Blazek
  • Vincent Desjacques
  • Wilmar Alberto Cardona Castro
  • Yuko Urakawa
  • Zygmunt Lalak