Probing Fundamental Physics on Cosmological Scales

Institute For Advanced Study, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the research activities of Professor Matias Zaldarriaga at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. In the last decades our understanding of the Universe has increased dramatically as a result of a series of measurements by telescopes on the ground and in space that have mapped the distribution of matter in a large fraction of our observable Universe. We have a very detailed standard model of Cosmology that can explain these observations, but to do so requires that the cosmos be filled with additional components, such as the so-called dark matter and dark energy, that have not been seen in the laboratory. To try to understand these findings, a new set of telescopes are being constructed and dedicated observational programs are being planned for the upcoming decade. In his research, Professor Zaldarriaga aims to develop and expand the necessary tools to extract all the information available in the upcoming surveys and experiments. The funded research also involves a series of theoretical projects to improve our understanding of the very early Universe, the properties of dark matter and dark energy, as well as the effects of massive neutrinos on the evolution of structure in our Universe. As such, this project is in the national interest by furthering the development of basic science in the United States. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. Professor Zaldarriaga will involve graduate students and postdocs in this research, and thereby provide critical training for junior physicists beginning research in this field. Professor Zaldarriaga also intends to continue to give public lectures on his research results and run his lecture course on modern Cosmology for seniors at the Evergreen Forum of the Princeton Senior Resource center. More technically, Professor Zaldarriaga will use the so-called Effective theory of Large-Scale Structure to study the effects of neutrinos in the development of structure in the Universe, and in general to try to understand what properties of the two-point correlation function and higher-point statistics are robust against the late-time non-linear evolution. Professor Zaldarriaga will develop new techniques to search for primordial non-Gaussianity, one of the important sources of information about the very early Universe, and will explore new mechanisms to create gravitational waves in the early Universe and new probes to try to find them. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.