From Dark Energy to Massive Neutrinos: when Cosmology meets Particle Physics
Graziano Rossi
Seoul U.
Despite remarkable progress in cosmology over the last decade, recent observations show that our current knowledge of the universe (i.e. the LCDM concordance model) is still incomplete, forcing to invoke a mysterious dark energy that propels an apparent acceleration in the present-day expansion rate of the universe and affects the growth rate of large-scale structures and the motions of galaxies. Even the standard model of particle physics is still incomplete, particularly after the breakthrough discovery that neutrinos are massive. After a general introduction, I will discuss the hunt for massive neutrinos and dark energy in state-of-the-art cosmological datasets, and the synergies with particle physics - with a special focus on the Lyman-Alpha forest. I will then briefly touch upon the quest for primordial non-Gaussianity, another key priority in cosmology today, and on the statistical description of the cosmic web. All the techniques discussed here are particularly useful for large-volume upcoming surveys, such as DESI or LSST.