Astronomy Colloquium
Nov
4
2025
Nov
4
2025
Description
Dark Energy Dynamics, Spatial Curvature, Neither, or Both?
Observations over the last two and half decades have persuaded cosmologists that (as yet only indirectly detected) dark energy is by far the main component of the energy budget of the current universe. I review a few simple dark energy models, including the currently-standard ΛCDM cosmological model, and compare their predictions to observational data, to derive cosmological parameter constraints and to study consistency of different data sets. I summarize observational constraints on dark energy dynamics and spatial curvature, two parameters that extend away from the time-independent cosmological constant dark energy and flat spatial hypersurfaces of the standard ΛCDM model. I also summarize observational constraints on the Hubble constant. I conclude with a list of my favorite open cosmological questions.
Other Events in This Series
Jan
28
2025
Astronomy Colloquium: The Impact of Stellar Feedback on the Dark Matter Properties of Galaxies
Nicolas Bouché is a CNRS astrophysicist working at CRAL (Center of Research in Astrophysique of Lyon)
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm • In Person
Speaker(s): Nicolas Bouché - Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon
Feb
4
2025
Astronomy Colloquium: Galactic Archeology, Near and (Sort of) Far
Gail Zasowski is an Associate Professor at the University of Utah
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm • In Person
Speaker(s): Gail Zasowski - University of Utah
Mar
11
2025
Astronomy Colloquium: A Tour of Dust in Galaxies
Desika Narayanan is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm • In Person
Speaker(s): Desika Narayanan - University of Florida
Mar
25
2025
Astronomy Colloquium: Hot Jupiter Demographics with a Magnitude-Complete Sample from TESS
Samuel Yee is a 51 Pegasi b Fellow at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm • In Person
Speaker(s): Samuel Yee - Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics