Cosmology was once a mainly philosophical endeavour, but thanks to the exponential growth of astronomical data over the last decades, it has become a data driven field of science where we can study physics on the largest as well as on the smallest scales. In my presentation, I will first discuss some results from the Planck satellite mission and what they tell us about the history and state of our universe. I will then focus on dark energy, the mechanism behind the accelerating expansion of the universe, and how future observations like those from the Euclid satellite mission and the HIRAX radio telescope can help us to understand its properties.
BIO
Martin Kunz studied physics at ETH Zurich and at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. After fellowships in Oxford, Sussex and back in Geneva he became a lecturer at the University of Sussex in 2008 before returning to the University of Geneva in 2009 where he is an associate professor in the theoretical physics department. Martin is working at the interface between theory and observations, in particular on ways to characterize dark energy properties. He was a core-team member of the Planck satellite mission and he is currently leading the cosmology-theory groups of the upcoming Euclid satellite mission and of the HIRAX radio telescope.
Host: Shude Mao
