Talks

Dark matter particle interactions could imprint characteristic signals in cosmic-ray and multi-wavelength observations of the sky. The central challenge is to distinguish these signatures from similar spectra produced by standard astrophysical processes, such as the life and death of stars and the interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar material. The GAPS Antarctic balloon payload, en route for its initial flight in December 2024, is the first experiment optimized specifically for low-energy cosmic antideuterons, an essentially background-free signature of dark matter, as well as antiprotons in an unprecedented low-energy region and leading sensitivity to cosmic anithelium. In this talk, I will detail the novel GAPS detection technique, its flight instrument, and the potential impact of these measurements in the coming years. 

Claims of a low clustering amplitude (S_8) at low redshifts from weak galaxy lensing measurements trace back nearly a decade, however, recent work suggests these results may be driven by large baryonic feedback or mischaracterization of linear alignments. I will present a complimentary approach to measure the evolution of S_8(z) using spectroscopically calibrated DESI galaxies and the latest CMB lensing measurements from Planck and ACT. These data are insensitive to many of the systematic complications present in galaxy lensing measurements, while our fiducial Hybrid Effective Field Theory model robustly regulates the information obtainable from smaller scales, such that our cosmological constraints are reliably derived from the (predominantly) linear regime. Our tomographic analysis of DESI Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG) prefers a slightly lower (5 − 7%) value of S_8 than primary CMB measurements with a statistical significance ranging from 1.8 − 2.3σ. Intriguingly, our lowest redshift LRG bin is most discrepant with a Planck cosmology, leaving open the possibility that structure growth is slowing down for redshifts z < 0.5. To address this possibility, I will conclude my talk with preliminary results from the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey, which enable tomographic S_8(z) measurements over the redshift range 0.1 \lesssim z \lesssim 0.4.

I will review the topic of primordial inflation, covering both the basics of the field and some more advanced topics. The advanced topics will be: initial conditions for inflation, slow-roll eternal inflation and the EFT of inflation.

 I will review the topic of primordial inflation, covering both the basics of the field and some more advanced topics. The advanced topics will be: initial conditions for inflation, slow-roll eternal inflation and the EFT of inflation.