Speaker
Description
ESPRESSO is a high-resolution-ultra-stable spectrograph for the VLT, whose commissioning will start in early 2017. One of its key science goals is to test the stability of nature’s fundamental couplings with unprecedented accuracy and control of possible
systematics. A total of 27 nights of the ESPRESSO Consortium’s guaranteed time observations (GTO) will be spent in testing the stability of the fine-structure constant and other fundamental couplings. A set of 14 priority optimal targets have been selected for
the GTO period. In this talk I will discuss the criteria underlying this selection, describe the selected targets, and present detailed forecasts
of the impact of these measurements on fundamental physics and cosmology, focusing on dark energy constraints and using future supernova type Ia surveys as a comparison point.
Summary
ESPRESSO is a high-resolution-ultra-stable spectrograph for the VLT, whose commissioning will start in early 2017. One of its key science goals is to test the stability of nature’s fundamental couplings with unprecedented accuracy and control of possible systematics. A total of 27 nights of the ESPRESSO Consortium’s guaranteed time observations (GTO) will be spent in testing the stability of the fine-structure constant and other fundamental couplings. A set of 14 priority optimal targets have been selected for the GTO period. In this talk I will discuss the criteria underlying this selection, describe the selected targets, and present detailed forecasts of the impact of these measurements on fundamental physics and cosmology, focusing on dark energy constraints and using future supernova type Ia surveys as a comparison point.
