BGU Physics Department
Colloquium, Jan. 3rd, 2012
Cosmology from the Cosmic Microwave Background
Chuck Bennet, John Hopkins
Unversity
From the COBE launch in 1989 and WMAP launch in 2001 to this
day we have experienced a revolution in cosmology. I will discuss how data
from our instruments, especially the COBE and WMAP space missions, have
solidified the big bang framework and established a "standard model of
cosmology", with precise and accurate parameters. By describing both the
observations and the predictions of the big bang and inflation paradigms, I
will review the physics what we know and how we know it. I will then review
the fundamental questions that remain to be answered and I will reflect on
how we might attain answers to these most pressing questions.