Connecting Fundamental Physics and Cosmology

Syracuse University, Syracuse NY

Investigators

Abstract

Research in theoretical elementary particle physics will focus on the extremely early universe, including the implications of fundamental physics and superstring theory for cosmology, and the role of cosmology as a testing ground for new ideas. Superstring theory is a way to unify all forces, including gravity and electromagnetism, and an understanding of its cosmological implications is crucial to extending our knowledge of the earliest times in the universe. This research will investigate how specific models of new physics account for the evolution of the universe, and how we may read their fingerprints on the sky today. Cosmology has proven to be an important way to experimentally probe particle physics, and the discovery of a signal of new physics in cosmological data would fundamentally change our understanding of the universe.