Date: Wednesday 23-Oct-2024
Time: 11:30-12:30 pm
Location: PSC 1136
Speaker: Dhayaa Anbajagane (University of Chicago)
Title: Fundamental physics on small-scales: constraining inflation using galaxy surveys
Abstract: We are in an era where widefield galaxy surveys cover more than half the sky, and have nearly perfect overlap with many other surveys. While these datasets were designed for probing the late Universe, they can also be used to study primordial physics. I will show how weak lensing measurements probe the particle physics of inflation in novel ways, providing constraints that are both competitive and complementary to those from other probes. Achieving these constraints necessitates accurate, simulation-based forward models of structure formation, including the rich astrophysics of gas and stars. I will describe our recent efforts in constructing halo-based, data-driven models of baryonic physics and propagating them to weak lensing observables. Finally, I will also highlight how these signatures of inflation can manifest on even smaller scales --- such as those of dwarf galaxies and stellar streams --- with the potential to set constraints on a new regime of primordial physics.
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