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The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is our most important source of information about the early universe. Many of its features are in good agreement with the predictions of the so-called standard model of cosmology -- the Lambda Cold Dark Matter Inflationary Big Bang. However, the large-angle correlations in the microwave background exhibit several statistically significant anomalies compared to the predictions of the standard model. On the one hand, the lowest multipoles seem to be correlated not just with each other but with the geometry of the solar system. On the other hand, when we look at the part of the sky that we most trust -- the part outside the galactic plane, there is a dramatic lack of large angle correlations. So much so that no choice of angular powerspectrum can explain it if the alms are Gaussian random statistically isotropic variables of zero mean.

After reviewing Wilson\'s picture of renormalization, and the associated Exact Renormalization Group, I will show that no (physically acceptable) non-trivial fixed points exist for scalar field theory in D>=4. Consequently, an asymptotic safety scenario is ruled out, and the triviality of the theory is confirmed.

This course is aimed at advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, and is inspired by a book by the same title, written by Padmanabhan. Each session consists of solving one or two pre-determined problems, which is done by a randomly picked student. While the problems introduce various subjects in Astrophysics and Cosmology, they do not serve as replacement for standard courses in these subjects, and are rather aimed at educating students with hands-on analytic/numerical skills to attack new problems.

This course is aimed at advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, and is inspired by a book by the same title, written by Padmanabhan. Each session consists of solving one or two pre-determined problems, which is done by a randomly picked student. While the problems introduce various subjects in Astrophysics and Cosmology, they do not serve as replacement for standard courses in these subjects, and are rather aimed at educating students with hands-on analytic/numerical skills to attack new problems.

The boundary object is an ethnographic term that describes objects, processes, or words that cross between cultures or disciplines. Boundary objects are often the currency and the result of cross disciplinary practices. All manner of things, from software, to maps, to theories can provide a rich terrain for misunderstanding, tentative agreements or new insights. Case studies of cross-disciplinary art and science collaborations or design and engineering projects will provide examples.

The question whether SICs exist can be viewed as a question about the structure of the convex set of quantum measurements, or turned into one about quantum states, asserting that they must have a high degree of symmetry. I\'ll address Chris Fuchs\' contrast of a \'probability first\' view of the issue with a \'generalized probabilistic theories\' view of it. I\'ll review some of what\'s known about the structure of convex state and measurement spaces with symmetries of a similar flavor, including the quantum one, and speculate on connections to recent SIC triple product results. And I\'ll present some old calculations, which will look familiar to old hands but may be worth contemplating yet again, reducing the Heisenberg-symmetric-SIC existence problem to the existence of solutions to a set of simultaneous polynomials in unit-modulus complex variables.

The Dark Energy might constitute an observable fraction of the total energy density of our Universe as far back as the time of matter radiation equality or even big bang nucleosynthesis. In this talk, I will review the cosmological implications of such an \'Early Dark Energy\' component, and discuss how it might - or might not - be detected by observations. In particular, I will show how assuming the early dark energy to be negligible will bias the interpretation of cosmological data.