BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//jEvents 2.0 for Joomla//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20161108T140000 RDATE:20170312T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20171105T010000 RDATE:20180311T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20181104T010000 RDATE:20190310T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20191103T010000 RDATE:20200308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T010000 RDATE:20210314T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20211107T010000 RDATE:20220313T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20221106T010000 RDATE:20230312T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231105T010000 RDATE:20240310T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20241103T010000 RDATE:20250309T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T010000 RDATE:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:America/Chicago CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20170312T030000 RDATE:20171105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20180311T030000 RDATE:20181104T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20190310T030000 RDATE:20191103T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T030000 RDATE:20201101T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20210314T030000 RDATE:20211107T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20220313T030000 RDATE:20221106T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20230312T030000 RDATE:20231105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20240310T030000 RDATE:20241103T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250309T030000 RDATE:20251102T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:America/Chicago CDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:af7a2df97b85f812d49d879652e5733f CATEGORIES:Special Events SUMMARY:Special Theory Group Seminar LOCATION:RLM 9.222 DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:
Inflationary Cosmology in Light of Cosmic Microwave Backgrou
nd Data
Katherine Freese, University of Michigan
Abstract:
Inflation, a period of accelerated expansion at the begi
nning of the Universe, seeks to explain the (otherwise mysterious) large sc
ale smoothness, isotropy, and “oldness” of the Universe. An important
product of this inflationary epoch is the origin of density perturbations
that are the seeds of galaxies and other large structures today. The densit
y perturbations and gravitational waves produced by inflation provide sensi
tive tests of both the inflationary paradigm and of individual inflationary
models. In the past decade predictions of inflation have been tested
by Cosmic Microwave Background data, most recently with the Planck satelli
te observations. The basic idea of inflation matches the data and sen
sitive tests have been made of individual models. Planck data have ru
led out most inflation models. I will discuss the status of Natural Inflati
on, a model that my collaborators and I originally proposed in 1990, as wel
l as modern variants. Natural inflation uses “axions” as the inflato
n, where the term “axion” is used generically for a field with a flat poten
tial as a result of a shift symmetry. The successes of inflation as w
ell as the potential discoveries in upcoming data will be emphasized.