Universe Colloquium: The Quest for Primordial non-Gaussianity

by Dragan Huterer (U Michigan)

Wednesday 15 Apr 2015, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Berlin

seminar room (Excellence Cluster Universe, Boltzmannstrasse 2, Garching)

Vanilla single-field, slow-roll inflationary theory predicts that primordialfluctuations in the universe were nearly Gaussian random. However some very well-motivated models specifically predict observably largenon-Gaussianity. Measurements of primordial non-Gaussianity therefore represent a rare window into the physics moments after the Big Bang. Dragan will first review the history of measurements of non-Gaussianity from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies over the past two decades. Then, he will review results obtained over the past five years showing the signatures of primordial non-Gaussianity in the large-scale structure (LSS). Finally he will discuss the current and forecasted future constraints on classes of models for primordial non-Gaussianity from the combination of the CMB and LSS, and how they probe the physics of the early universe. The Universe Colloquium is followed by a social gathering with wine and cheese.