Mystery of the Cosmological Constant
Popular Physics
2011-11-23 v5
Abstract
The 2011 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to S. Perlmutter, A. Riess and B. Schmidt for their path breaking discovery that the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing with time. The trio used Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) as standard candles to estimate their luminosity-distances. To appreciate some of the far reaching implications of their work, I have provided an elementary exposition of general theory of relativity, accelerated expansion of the universe, luminosity-distance, SNe Ia and the cosmological constant problem.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1105.3402,
title = {Mystery of the Cosmological Constant},
author = {Patrick Das Gupta},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1105.3402},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
An article for under-graduate students based on the lecture delivered in the Three Days Joint Academies Lecture Workshop on Frontiers of Physics held in Delhi, India