Related papers: Addressing the Crisis in Fundamental Physics
Dark energy is a premier mystery of physics, both theoretical and experimental. As we look to develop plans for high energy physics over the next decade, within a two decade view, we consider benchmarks for revealing the nature of dark…
Cosmology is intrinsically intertwined with questions in fundamental physics. The existence of non-baryonic dark matter requires new physics beyond the Standard Model of elemenatary-particle interactions and Einstein's general relativity,…
The Dark Energy problem is forcing us to re-examine our models and our understanding of relativity and space-time. The Standard Model of particle physics and its extensions are already in crisis. Having failed so far to include gravity in a…
The observational evidence for the recent acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete---if not incorrect---and that new physics is out there, waiting to be discovered.…
In this brief review, we examine the theoretical consistency and viability of phantom dark energy. Almost all data sets from cosmological probes are compatible with dark energy of the phantom variety (i.e., equation-of-state parameter…
I consider some of the issues we face in trying to understand dark energy. Huge fluctuations in the unknown dark energy equation of state can be hidden in distance data, so I argue that model-independent tests which signal if the…
Experiments using slow neutrons address a growing range of scientific issues spanning nuclear physics, particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. The field of fundamental physics using neutrons has experienced a significant increase in…
Major observational efforts in the coming decade are designed to probe the equation of state of dark energy. Measuring a deviation of the equation-of-state parameter w from -1 would indicate a dark energy that cannot be represented solely…
Astronomers carry out observations to explore the diverse processes and objects which populate our Universe. High-energy physicists carry out experiments to approach the Fundamental Theory underlying space, time and matter. Dark Energy is a…
A probable solution of the cosmological constant problem was recently found. We propose that dark energy of the Universe is vacuum energy. Our Universe during its expansion is spending its vacuum energy for creation of new quantum states,…
This article is the written version of the closing talk presented at the conference `A Century of Cosmology' held at San Servolo, Italy, in August 2007. I focus on the prospects of constraining fundamental physics from cosmological…
For physicists, recent developments in astrophysics and cosmology present exciting challenges. We are conducting "experiments" in energy regimes some of which will be probed by accelerators in the near future, and others which are…
The observational evidence for the recent acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete (or possibly incorrect) and that new physics is out there, waiting to be…
I briefly review our current understanding of dark matter and dark energy. The first part of this paper focusses on issues pertaining to dark matter including observational evidence for its existence, current constraints and the `abundance…
In this dissertation, the nature of Dark Energy (DE) is examined from both theoretical and phenomenological perspectives. The possibility of DE being a dynamic quantity in quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime is studied. The…
A six parameter cosmological model, involving a vacuum energy density that is extremely tiny compared to fundamental particle physics scales, describes a large body of increasingly accurate astronomical data. In a first part of this brief…
Cosmological observations of the recent universe suggest that dark energy equation of state parameter $w$ is growing with time, departing from a cosmological constant for which $w=-1$. Standard quintessence models allow for a varying…
The past few years have seen several breakthroughs in particle astrophysics and cosmology. In several cases, new observations can only be explained with the introduction of new fundamental physics. In this talk I summarize some of these…
Vacuum energy changes during cosmological phase transitions and becomes relatively important at epochs just before phase transitions. For a viable cosmology the vacuum energy just after a phase transition must be set by the critical…
Astrophysics and cosmology can be used to test the standard model of particle physics under conditions and over distance and time scales not accessible to laboratory experiments. Most of the astrophysical observations are in good agreement…