Physical Society Colloquium

Beyond the Standard Cosmological Model

Bhuvnesh Jain

Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of Pennsylvania

Observational advances in cosmology have led to the emergence of a standard model that explains the accelerated expansion of the universe and the distribution and dynamics of galaxies. Cold dark matter and dark energy are considered the leading components of the energy density of the universe. Ideas that provide alternatives to the minimal standard model include the possibility that gravity on large scales deviates from the predictions of general relativity. I will describe how cosmological measurements are used to pursue such new physics. I will show gravitational lensing results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Dark Energy Survey. New methods to measure the mass distributon cosmic voids and the shapes of galaxy halos can test theories of gravity and dark matter. Lensing by large-scale structure from galaxy surveys and the cosmic microwave background provides tests of both dark energy and gravity.