Astrophysics

We propose a model for combining the Standard Model (SM) with gravity. It relies on a non-minimal coupling of the Higgs field to the Ricci scalar and on the Palatini formulation of gravity. Without introducing any new degrees of freedom in addition to those of the SM and the graviton, this scenario achieves two goals. First, it generates the electroweak symmetry breaking by a non-perturbative gravitational effect. In this way, it does not only address the hierarchy problem but opens up the possibility to calculate the Higgs mass. Second, the model incorporates inflation at energies below the onset of strong-coupling of the theory. Provided that corrections due to new physics above the scale of inflation are not unnaturally large, we can relate inflationary parameters to data from collider experiments.
 

Cosmologists wish to explain how our universe, in all its complexity, could ever have come about. This is the problem of initial conditions and the first step towards its solution is the assessment of the universe’s entropy today. It is widely agreed upon that the entropy of vacuum energy, given by the Bekenstein bound, makes up the bulk of the current entropy budget, dominating over that of gravity and over thermal motions of the cosmic radiation background.

Have we counted all significant contributions to the entropy inventory? There is one number which we have not considered: the number of degrees of freedom in our vibrant, complex biosphere. What is the entropy of life? Is it sizeable enough to need to be accounted for at the Big Bang, or negligible compared to vacuum entropy?

In this talk, I will outline the forward model approach to reconstruct cosmological fields in a Bayesian framework. I will focus on two examples - galaxy clustering and neutral hydrogen intensity mapping.

In galaxy clustering example, I will use the observations of galaxy surveys to reconstruct the initial Lagrangian field. Here, we develop a novel framework with neural networks to forward model halo masses and positions and demonstrate that our method outperforms standard reconstruction in both real and redshift space. This reconstructed initial field has enhanced signal for baryon acoustic oscillations and can enhance science returns for surveys like DESI.

For neutral hydrogen surveys, we lose over 50% of the modes at high redshifts due to foregrounds and it severely hampers their feasibility for cosmological analysis. With a novel bias framework for the forward model, I will show that we are able to reconstruct over 90% of these modes and this recovers cross-correlations with photo-z surveys like LSST and tracers like CMB lensing.

Lastly, I will briefly touch upon assumptions made in this reconstruction framework regarding noise models and likelihood. I will discuss preliminary ways to improve upon them using deep learning.

Primordial SU(2) gauge fields and axions can contribute to the physics of
inflation. In this class of models, both the gauge field and axion acquire
a VEV, which is P and CP breaking and enriches the phenomenology of
particles with spin. Their multifaceted phenomenology and unique
observational signatures, e.g., chiral primordial gravitational waves and
gravitational leptogenesis, turned this class of models to a hot topic of
research in the past nine years. In this talk, first, I will briefly
review the different realizations of this setup. Next, I will tell you
about the three different types of particles produced by the SU(2) gauge field,
i.e., scalar, fermion, and spin-2 particles and their observable
signatures. In particular, the new spin-2 field produces
chiral gravitational waves, which can be detected with LiteBIRD, CMB-S4,
adv LISA, and BBO. Last but not least, I will tell you about the fermion
generation during inflation, dark and visible, as yet another generous
opportunity offered by the primordial SU(2)!

Thus far, the non-linear regime of structure formation is only accessible through expensive numerical N-body simulations since the conventional ana-
lytic treatment of cosmic density fluctuations via the hydrodynamical equations runs into severe problems even in a mildly non-linear regime. I will give an overview of Kinetic Field Theory, a novel analytic approach to cosmic large-scale structure formation, which provides a density fluctuation power spectrum that agrees well with state of the art N-body simulations up to k = 10h Mpc−1. I will point out how Kinetic Field Theory avoids the difficulties of standard perturbation theory by construction and allows to proceed deeply into the non-linear regime of density fluctuations. I will give a summary of the most important results and recent developments for cosmic structure formation and briefly show applications of Kinetic Field Theory outside of cosmology, stressing the opportunities this method provides for the study of the physics behind structure formation. I will then focus my discussion on how the form of the interaction potential influences the formation of cosmic structures in the highly non-linear regime and the implications it bears on the NFW density profile of dark matter halos.