Beyond Einstein: The Dark Side of the Universe
I attended Beyond Einstein: The Dark Side of the Universe tonight -- lecture 1 of 4, of the University of Toronto's Cosmic Frontiers series that celebrates 100 years of Astronomy at UofT. Tonight's speaker was Professor Rocky Kolb of Fermilab and the University of Chicago. The abstract of his lecture is as follows:
The lecture was a generalist lecture, that may stretch the imagination of some, enlighten others and confuse a good deal. The audience, based on the questions, didn't seem to be part of the latter. Which was good. I hate it when some extremely brave souls -- some would describe as stupid -- go up to the mic to ask about aliens and the impending invasion of the Martians. I've been to those lectures, and have come away embarrassed that speakers have traveled so far be insulted.
Tonight, Kolb introduced Cosmology, putting it in perspective to show the astonishing accomplishments of the last 100 years, and stimulate the imagination to the wondrous insights that will come our way in the next 100 years. He presented our current knowledge of the known and the known-unknown. We know only 5% of the universe -- the other 95% remains hidden in the aptly named dark matter and dark energy. I've seen the breakdown before, but his delivery, steeped in humour, will stay with me quite sometime. Kolb is a pretty good speaker. His humour is sometimes subtle, but mostly, it's in your face. To Einstein's admittance that his introduction of the cosmological constant to keep the universe static was his greatest "blunder" -- only to us now recognizing that the cosmological constant is the fudge-factor to explain the dark energy that is accelerating the expansion of the universe -- Kolb finds a lesson for all of us: "never admit to making a mistake." He goes on to say that if it wasn't for this admittance of a blunder, Einstein would have become quite famous. Kolb also used his perch to take aim at those who don't understand science or the scientific process, but in the security of their fate, remind us that science only speaks in theories. Let them speak of the theory of gravity he suggests, and take heart in their fate, especially when they're about to step off the edge of a cliff.
Altogether, it was a good evening -- time well spent. I look forward to the other lectures: Sept. 30th's Way Too Cool: Tales of Stellar Corpses; Oct. 14th's Quest for Other Worlds and Prospects of Life; and, Oct. 21st's In Search of the Cosmic Dawn.
For related reading, check out the following:
The discoveries of Albert Einstein rank among humanity's greatest achievements. His theory predicts the emergence of the universe from a big bang and the possibility that space itself has a "weight." Recent observations seem to confirm these amazing predictions. Yet, his theory cannot answer two profound questions:
The talk will discuss how connecting the inner space of the quantum and the outer space of the cosmos may complete Einstein's legacy and unlock new mysteries of the universe that await us "Beyond Einstein."what is the dark matter holding together our galaxy? what is the dark energy pulling apart our universe?
The lecture was a generalist lecture, that may stretch the imagination of some, enlighten others and confuse a good deal. The audience, based on the questions, didn't seem to be part of the latter. Which was good. I hate it when some extremely brave souls -- some would describe as stupid -- go up to the mic to ask about aliens and the impending invasion of the Martians. I've been to those lectures, and have come away embarrassed that speakers have traveled so far be insulted.
Tonight, Kolb introduced Cosmology, putting it in perspective to show the astonishing accomplishments of the last 100 years, and stimulate the imagination to the wondrous insights that will come our way in the next 100 years. He presented our current knowledge of the known and the known-unknown. We know only 5% of the universe -- the other 95% remains hidden in the aptly named dark matter and dark energy. I've seen the breakdown before, but his delivery, steeped in humour, will stay with me quite sometime. Kolb is a pretty good speaker. His humour is sometimes subtle, but mostly, it's in your face. To Einstein's admittance that his introduction of the cosmological constant to keep the universe static was his greatest "blunder" -- only to us now recognizing that the cosmological constant is the fudge-factor to explain the dark energy that is accelerating the expansion of the universe -- Kolb finds a lesson for all of us: "never admit to making a mistake." He goes on to say that if it wasn't for this admittance of a blunder, Einstein would have become quite famous. Kolb also used his perch to take aim at those who don't understand science or the scientific process, but in the security of their fate, remind us that science only speaks in theories. Let them speak of the theory of gravity he suggests, and take heart in their fate, especially when they're about to step off the edge of a cliff.
Altogether, it was a good evening -- time well spent. I look forward to the other lectures: Sept. 30th's Way Too Cool: Tales of Stellar Corpses; Oct. 14th's Quest for Other Worlds and Prospects of Life; and, Oct. 21st's In Search of the Cosmic Dawn.
For related reading, check out the following:
Evidence for Dark Matter [PDF] -- Rick Gaitskell
Alternative Dark Energy Models: An Overview [PDF] -- J.A.S. Lima
Candidates for Non-Baryonic Dark Matter [PDF] -- Nicolao Forenengo
Dark Energy: Overview of General Ideas [PDF] -- Friedrich Ropke, Matthias Stehle
Light Thoughts on Dark Energy [PDF] -- Eric V. Linder
Dealing with Dark Energy [PDF] -- Eric V. Linder
The Dark Energy Survey [PDF]
Dark Matter in Galaxies: Observational Overview [PDF] -- A. Bosma
The Search for Dark Matter -- And Overview [PDF] -- Firas Zenie
Cold Dark Matter Models [PDF] -- Scott Dodelson, Evalyn I. Gates, and Michael S. Turner
The slides from this presentation is available at: http://home.fnal.gov/~rocky/Toronto.pdf
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