Cosmology: how a quest to “nail down some numbers” has morphed into an astrophysical study of the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies and AGNs.
"Why are you wasting your time measuring those numbers to ever higher precision? Face it Catherine, cosmology is done!" *
Ah, if only! In this talk I’ll share how, as we've improved the precision measurement of the cosmological parameters that define our Universe, we've found ourselves faced with more questions than answers.
In an era of “tension” between results that should be complementary, cosmologists are being challenged to master new trades: from the operational intricacies of charge-coupled devices (CCDs), to the complexities of stellar evolution and galaxy formation combined with a necessity to understand how powerful active galactic nuclei (AGNs) re-distribute dark matter across the cosmos. These diverse research areas in astrophysics now all play a crucial role in our quest to understand the nature of the dark components that make up our Universe.
Join me to explore the challenges and excitement that lies in store for the cosmology community thanks to the incoming data deluge from Euclid, the Vera Rubin Observatory, JWST and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.
* Quote from a dear colleague in the exoplanet community!