Big Discoveries and Big Problems about the Universe

Undergraduate / Graduate

In the last 100 years cosmologists have developed a model for the origin, evolution, and present state of the universe, starting 14 billion years ago from a hot, dense initial state (the Big Bang). Our present understanding of the history of the universe involves a rapid early expansion phase (inflation), the formation of neutrons and protons in the primordial soup a microsecond after the bang, the origin of the light elements a minute after the bang, the growth of galaxies and large-scale structures from small seed inhomogeneities, and eventually the formation of stars and planets. Our understanding is based on Einstein's Theory of General Relativity and the action of four fundamental forces. Although the big bang is the most quantitative theory for the origin and evolution of the universe ever imagined, and it is based on our understanding of the quantum world and buttressed by a host of astronomical observations and laboratory experiments, big problems remain, such as: Why is there a universe at all? What is the nature of the mysterious dark matter and dark energy comprising 95% of the present universe? What is the present size and age of the universe? In this seminar course, Wendy Freedman, an observational astronomer, and Rocky Kolb, a theorist, will engage students in discussion about these big discoveries and big problems about the universe.