Theoretical approaches to cosmic tensions
The Hubble and weak-lensing S8 tensions in cosmology have persisted at the ~5 and ~3 sigma levels, perhaps hinting at new physics beyond LCDM. I have extensively investigated these anomalies, postulating the early dark energy (EDE) solution to the Hubble tension. Although EDE has had some successes, there are challenges yet - improving EDE's underlying fundamental model, constraining it without including H0 data, and simultaneously resolving the S8 tension. My talk will present my work in addressing these challenges, with applications beyond cosmic tensions.
For the first, I have explored introducing interactions between EDE and dark matter, dark radiation or late dark energy. To tackle the second point, I wrote Procoli, a public tool to calculate profile likelihoods in cosmology to address prior-volume effects prevalent in EDE models that bias their Bayesian constraints. Finally, by projecting the S8 tension onto the matter power spectrum, I am identifying the physical scales that data sets disagree on, providing insight to guide model-building efforts that aim to resolve this tension.
For Zoom information, please contact the seminar coordinators.
