Related papers: Supernovae as cosmological probes
For a few years now, cosmology has a standard model. By this term, we mean a consistent theoretical background which is at the same time simple and broad enough to offer coherent explanations for the vast majority of cosmological phenomena.…
Recent cosmological observations suggest that nearly seventy per cent of the energy density in the universe is unclustered and has negative pressure. Several conceptual issues related to the modeling of this component (`dark energy'), which…
For two decades the hot big-bang model has been referred to as the standard cosmology -- and for good reason. For just as long cosmologists have known that there are fundamental questions that are not addressed by the standard cosmology and…
The accelerated expansion of the Universe was proposed through the use of Type-Ia SNe as standard candles. The standardization depends on an empirical correlation between the stretch/color and peak luminosity of the light curves. The use of…
Two exotic elements have been introduced into the standard cosmological model: non-baryonic dark matter and dark energy. The success in converting a hypothesis into a solid theory depends strongly on whether we are able to solve the…
An alternative to dark energy as an explanation for the present phase of accelerated expansion of the Universe is that the Friedmann equation is modified, e.g. by extra dimensional gravity, on large scales. We explore a natural…
Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) are considered the most reliable \textit{standard candles} and they have played an invaluable role in cosmology since the discovery of the Universe's accelerated expansion. During the last decades, the SNe Ia…
The $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter model ($\Lambda$CDM) represents the current standard model in cosmology. Within this, there is a tension between the value of the Hubble constant, $H_0$, inferred from local distance indicators and the angular…
The current state of cosmology is easy to summarize: a very successful standard model -- the hot big-bang cosmology -- that accounts for the evolution of the Universe from 10^{-2} sec until the present; bold ideas based upon early-Universe…
Last couple of decades have been the golden age for cosmology. High quality data confirmed the broad paradigm of standard cosmology but have thrusted upon us a preposterous composition for the universe which defies any simple explanation,…
Full suite of the present day Cosmic Microwave background (CMB) data, when combined with weak prior information on the Hubble constant and the age of the Universe, or the Large-Scale structure, provides strong indication for a non-zero…
Discoveries in the last few years have revolutionized our knowledge of the universe and our ideas of its ultimate fate. Measurements of the expansion of the universe show that it is not slowing down under normal gravity but accelerating due…
Some recent observations provide $> 2\sigma$ evidence for phantom dark energy -- a value of the dark energy equation of state less than the cosmological-constant value of $-1$. We focus on constraining the equation of state by combining…
The recent observations of type Ia supernovae suggest that the universe is accelerating now and decelerated in the recent past. This may be the evidence of the breakdown of the standard Friedmann equation. The Friedmann equation $H^2\sim…
The Hubble's constant is usually surmised to be a constant; but the experiments show a large spread and conflicting estimates. According to the plasma-redshift theory, the Hubble's constant varies with the plasma densities along the line of…
There is a persistent tension of about $5\sigma-6\sigma$ between the value of the Hubble constant, as derived from the local distance ladder vs. the cosmic microwave background, signaling either unaccounted for systematics in the…
Combining cosmological probes has consolidated the standard cosmological model with percent precision, but some tensions have recently emerged when certain parameters are estimated from the local or primordial Universe. The origin of this…
The accelerating expansion of the universe suggests that an unknown component with strongly negative pressure, called dark energy, currently dominates the dynamics of the universe. Such a component makes up ~70% of the energy density of the…
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…
A cosmological model with total density close to critical (and flat geometry), dominated by dark matter and dark energy of unknown nature, and consistent with the basic predictions of the inflationary scenario is a very good fit to a…