Uncovering the Smallest with the Biggest: Neutrinos & Cosmology

  • Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

November 22, 2024 3:30 PM - November 22, 2024 4:30 PM
PAIS 1100

Host:
Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine
Presenter:
Dr. Kevork Abazajian (UC Irvine)
Video Recording
Neutrinos are the second most abundant known particle in the Universe, with a density just below that of the cosmic microwave background. Combining this with the minimal mass required by neutrino oscillations makes them as large of a contributor to the density of the Universe as all stars. This density, combined with their light particle mass, makes cosmological expansion history and the growth of structure a very sensitive probe of the nature of the properties of neutrinos: their interactions, their absolute mass-scale, and whether there are extra light “sterile” neutrinos.  In this talk, I will review the role of neutrinos in the standard cosmological model, present recent findings within this framework, and explore the intriguing implications of non-standard neutrino properties suggested by current data.

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