Related papers: Three tests of LambdaCDM
Recent cosmological and astrophysical observations point out that the Universe is in accelerating expansion and filled up with non-luminous matter. In order to explain the observed large scale structures and this accelerating behavior one…
We present a short (and necessarily incomplete) review of the evidence for the accelerated expansion of the Universe. The most direct probe of acceleration relies on the detailed study of supernovae (SN) of type Ia. Assuming that these are…
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…
The recent robust and homogeneous analysis of the world's supernova distance-redshift data, together with cosmic microwave background and baryon acoustic oscillation data, provides a powerful tool for constraining cosmological models. Here…
Keeping in mind the current picture of an accelerating and flat Universe, some specific dynamical models of the cosmological term $\Lambda$ have been selected for investigating the nature of dark energy. Connecting the free parameters of…
Recent astronomical observations indicate that our Universe is undergoing a period of an accelerated expansion. While there are many cosmological models, which explain this phenomenon, the main question remains which is the best one in the…
The comparison of cosmic abundances of the light elements with the density of baryonic stars and gas in the universe today provides a critical test of big bang theory and a powerful probe of the nature of dark matter. A new technique allows…
The recent discovery of apparent cosmic acceleration has highlighted the depth of our ignorance of the fundamental properties of nature. It is commonly assumed that the explanation for acceleration must come from a new form of energy…
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…
We review current observations of the homogeneous cosmological expansion which, because they measure only kinematic variables, cannot determine the dynamics driving the recent accelerated expansion. The minimal fit to the data, the flat…
The "standard" model of cosmology is founded on the basis that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating at present --- as was inferred originally from the Hubble diagram of Type Ia supernovae. There exists now a much bigger…
While Bayesian model selection is a useful tool to discriminate between competing cosmological models, it only gives a relative rather than an absolute measure of how good a model is. Bayesian doubt introduces an unknown benchmark model…
Some remarkable examples of alternative cosmological theories are reviewed here, ranging from a compilation of variations on the Standard Model through the more distant quasi-steady-state cosmology, plasma cosmology, or universe models as a…
We carry out an analysis of the cosmological perturbations in general relativity for three different models which are good candidates to describe the current acceleration of the Universe. These three set-ups are described classically by…
We discuss the evolution of density perturbations of dark matter and dark energy in cosmological models which admit future singularities in a finite time. Up to now geometrical tests of the evolution of the universe do not differentiate…
A wide range of models describing modifications to General Relativity have been proposed, but no fundamental parameter set exists to describe them. Similarly, no fundamental theory exists for dark energy to parameterize its potential…
Breakthroughs in physics and astrophysics are often driven by technological advances, with the recent detection of gravitational waves being one such example. This white paper focuses upon how improved astrometric and spectroscopic…
Associated with the cosmic acceleration are the old and new cosmological constant problems, recently put into the more general context of the dark energy problem. In broad terms, the old problem is related to an unexpected order of…
The Standard Model is in good shape, apart possibly from g_\mu - 2 and some niggling doubts about the electroweak data. Something like a Higgs boson is required to provide particle masses, but theorists are actively considering…
The ability to test the nature of dark mass-energy components in the universe through large-scale structure studies hinges on accurate predictions of sky survey expectations within a given world model. Numerical simulations predict key…