Related papers: Revising the Cosmic Story
Cosmology is becoming an important tool to test particle physics models. We provide an overview of the standard model of cosmology with an emphasis on the observations relevant for testing fundamental physics.
The acceleration of the cosmic expansion is a fundamental challenge to standard models of particle physics and cosmology. The new physics of dark energy may lie in the nature of gravity, the quantum vacuum, or extra dimensions. I give a…
We propose a cosmological model that makes a significant step toward solving the coincidence problem of the near similarity at the present of the dark energy and dark matter components. Our cosmology has the following properties: a) among…
I will review some results of observational cosmology which critically cast doubt upon the foundations of the standard cosmology: 1) The redshifts of the galaxies are due to the expansion of the Universe; 2) The cosmic microwave background…
Observations provide increasingly strong evidence that the universe is accelerating. This revolutionary advance in cosmological observations confronts theoretical cosmology with a tremendous challenge, which it has so far failed to meet.…
The Standard Cosmological Model of the 1980's is no more. I describe the definitive evidence that the density of matter is insufficient to result in a flat universe, as well as the mounting evidence that the cosmological constant is not…
The standard model of cosmology is based on the general theory of relativity and demands more than 95\% of the universe to consist of dark matter and dark energy that has no direct observational evidence till date. The foundation of the…
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 Standard Model of Particle Physics (SMPP) is an enormously successful description of high energy physics, driving ever more precise measurements to find "physics beyond the standard model", as well as providing motivation for developing…
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…
Observational evidence indicating that the expansion of the universe is accelerating has surprised cosmologists in recent years. Cosmological models have sought to explain this acceleration by incorporating `dark energy', of which the…
Where does it all come from? Where are we going? Are we alone in the universe? What is good and what is evil? The scientific narrative of cosmic evolution demands that we tackle such big questions with a cosmological perspective. I tackle…
The standard model of cosmology considers the existence of two components of unknown nature, ``dark matter'' and ``dark energy'', which determine the cosmological evolution. Their nature remains unknown, and other models can also be…
The claim by Gurzadyan et al. that the cosmological sky is a weakly random one where "the random perturbation is a minor component of mostly regular signal" has given rise to a series of useful exchanges. The possibility that the Cosmic…
We consider the properties of an ensemble of universes as function of size, where size is defined in terms of the asymptotic value of the Hubble constant (or, equivalently, the value of the cosmological constant). We assume that standard…
The cosmographic technique is a powerful model-independent tool for distinguishing between competing cosmological scenarios. The key strengths and weaknesses of standard cosmography are discussed in view of healing the convergence problem…
The paper discusses the problem of demarcation between the dimensions of natural and the human sciences in contemporary cosmology. In spite of a common presumption that cosmology is a natural science, the specificity of its alleged subject…
Recent results regarding dark energy are mutually inconsistent under the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, hinting at the possibility of undiscovered physics. However, the currently accepted cosmological parameters come from a joint…
Reports of "cosmology in crisis" are in vogue, but as Mark Twain said, "the report of my death was an exaggeration". We explore what we might actually mean by the standard cosmological model, how tensions - or their apparent resolutions -…
In this essay a critical review of present conceptual problems in current cosmology is provided from a more philosophical point of view. In essence, a digression on how could philosophy help cosmologists in what is strictly their…