Skip to Content

Search: {{$root.lsaSearchQuery.q}}, Page {{$root.page}}

SMP 10/27/08 | Superstring Cosmology: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Inflation | Speaker: Scott Watson

Saturday, September 27, 2008
12:00 AM
170 & 182 Dennison Building

Speaker: Professor Scott Watson (U-M Physics)

In its earliest moments the Universe experienced a very rapid period of accelerated expansion known as cosmological inflation. Inflation leads to a number of observational signatures that can be used to test our theories of the early Universe. One example of such a theory is Superstring theory. Recent theoretical advances not only provide testable string models of inflation, but may even allow us to ask what happened before the “Big Bang”. Most excitingly, many of these ideas will be tested in the near future by experiment. After a general overview of inflationary cosmology Professor Watson will discuss some of the new ideas arising from String theory and how many of them will be scrutinized in upcoming experiments.

Detailed Information
All talks are free and refreshments will be served. Visitor parking for the seminars (Central Campus) is across the street from the Dennison Building in the U-M Church Street structure. There is a $2.00 parking charge implemented by U-M Parking Services.

Contact Information
For more information regarding the Saturday Morning Physics series, see the Physics Department website, or call 734.764.4437