Physics Colloquium | 8 April

The echo of the Big Bang as seen by the Planck satellite, Professeur Martin Kunz, département de Physique théorique, Université de Genève.

Monday 8 April 2013, 5 pm
École de Physique, Auditoire Stueckelberg
24, quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211 Genève 4

Abstract: On March 21st, ESA’s Planck space telescope released the most detailed map ever created of the cosmic microwave background – the relic radiation from the Big Bang. The map shows the Universe at a time when it was just 380 000 years old, and the tiny fluctuations that it contains represent the seeds of all future structure: the stars and galaxies of today. From this map, we can learn many things, for example that 95% of the "stuff'' in the Universe are different from anything we have encountered on Earth. The new data by the Planck satellite agree quite well with the cosmological standard model, and we will see what this implies for our understanding of the Universe. But we will also encounter some surprises in the Planck data that may eventually force us to reconsider some of our basic assumptions.