Related papers: Flat Space, Dark Energy, and the Cosmic Microwave …
We combine complementary datasets to constrain dark energy. Using standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the observed abundances of primordial nuclides to put constraints on $\Omega_Q$ at temperatures near $T \sim 1MeV$, we find the strong…
Cosmology now provides unambiguous, quantitative evidence for new particle physics. I discuss the implications of cosmology for supersymmetry and vice versa. Topics include: motivations for supersymmetry; supersymmetry breaking; dark…
We uncover the general mechanism producing the dark energy(DE). This is only based on well known quantum physics and cosmology. We show that the observed DE originates from the cosmological quantum vacuum of light particles which provides a…
The nature of dark matter is still unknown and one of the most fundamental scientific mysteries. Although successfully describing large scales, the standard cold dark matter model (CDM) exhibits possible shortcomings on galactic and…
Dark energy is interpreted as the leftover of mostly canceled vacuum energy due to the spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking (SMSB) at the electroweak phase transition. Based on the newly proposed mirror-matter model (M$^3$), the extended…
Several cosmological measurements have attained significant levels of maturity and accuracy over the last decade. Continuing this trend, future observations promise measurements of the statistics of the cosmic mass distribution at an…
Recently, the Planck collaboration has released the first cosmological papers providing the high resolution, full sky, maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. It is crucial to understand that whether the…
While the standard, six-parameter, spatially flat $\Lambda$CDM model has been highly successful, certain anomalies in the cosmic microwave background bring out a tension between this model and observations. The statistical significance of…
Some inconsistencies to the assumption of a cosmological origin of the cosmic microwave background CMB, such as the absence of gravitational lensing in the WMAP data, open the doors to some speculations such as a local origin to the CMB. We…
Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe. The remainder is a mysterious "dark matter" component, which does not interact via electromagnetism and thus neither…
We use all available baryon acoustic oscillation distance measurements and Hubble parameter data to constrain the cosmological constant $\Lambda$, dynamical dark energy, and spatial curvature in simple cosmological models. We find that the…
At present we know nothing about the nature of the dark energy accounting for about 70% of the energy density of the Universe. One possibility is that the dark energy is provided by an extremely light field, the quintessence, rolling down…
For the first time, we have a plausible, complete accounting of matter and energy in the Universe. Expressed a fraction of the critical density it goes like this: neutrinos, between 0.3% and 15%; stars, 0.5%; baryons (total), 5%; matter…
The present standard model of cosmology states that the known particles carry only a tiny fraction of total mass and energy of the Universe. Rather, unknown dark matter and dark energy are the dominant contributions to the cosmic energy…
The BBN predictions for the abundances of the light element isotopes is reviewed and compared with recent observational data. The single unknown parameter of standard BBN is the baryon-to-photon ratio, \eta, and can be determined by the…
Vacuum fluctuations and the Casimir effect are considered in a cosmological setting. It is suggested that the dark energy, which recent observations suggest make up 73% of our universe, is vacuum energy due to a causal boundary effect at…
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…
I review two different connections between particle theory and early-Universe cosmology: (1) Cosmic-microwave-background (CMB) tests of inflation and (2) particle dark matter. The inflationary predictions of a flat Universe and a nearly…
Observations of the cosmic microwave background represent a remarkable source of information for modern cosmology. Besides providing impressive support for the Big Bang model itself, they quantify the overall framework, or background, for…
Cosmology requires new physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles and fields. What is the fundamental physics behind dark matter and dark energy? What generated the initial fluctuations in the early Universe? Polarised light…