Cosmic Beginnings and Cosmic Fate: Confronting Inflation and the Dark Sector with Observations

AST-0708849 Wandel这是一个广泛而雄心勃勃的研究和教育计划，与精确宇宙学有关，专注于确定宇宙初始条件和发现暗能量物理特性的双重任务。 贝叶斯协方差分析的新统计技术可以充分利用宇宙微波背景辐射和其他宇宙学探测器所包含的信息。 应用这些技术将使这个项目能够更好地理解宇宙是如何开始的，以及是什么构成了支配它的暗能量。相关的教育计划利用了伊利诺伊大学现有的基础设施。 一个令人兴奋的新的“爱因斯坦的物理学”为期一周的课程将与工程和教育学院，以及大学的妇女在工程办公室，作为高中女生营地的一部分。 支持这些活动是该奖项的一部分。 该研究项目还通过与慕尼黑马克斯普朗克天体物理研究所有关的国际组成部分加强了研究生和博士后教育。随着WMAP卫星产生新的数据，普朗克卫星在2007年发射，南极望远镜上线，以及其他宇宙学数据的可用性，目前的研究和教育计划将揭示宇宙的初始条件，对暗能量的物理特性进行严格限制，并为妇女和代表性不足的少数群体的参与开辟新的途径。

AST-0708849WandeltThis is a broad and ambitious program of research and education related to precision cosmology, focusing on the dual quests to determine the initial conditions of the Universe and to discover the physical properties of dark energy. New statistical techniques for Bayesian covariance analysis can take full advantage of the information contained in the cosmic microwave background and other cosmological probes. Applying these techniques will allow this project to close in on an understanding of how the cosmos began, and what constitutes the dark energy that so dominates it.The associated education program capitalizes on existing infrastructure at the University of Illinois. An exciting new "Einstein's Physics" one-week curriculum will partner with the Colleges of Engineering and Education, and the university's office of Women in Engineering, as part of a camp for high school girls. Support for these activities is part of this award. The research project also enhances graduate and postdoctoral education through an international component associated with the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich.As the WMAP satellite produces new data, the Planck satellite launches in 2007, the South Pole Telescope comes online, and other cosmological data become available, the present program of research and education will uncover the initial conditions of the Universe, place strong constraints on the physical properties of dark energy, and open new avenues for the involvement of women and under-represented minorities.