Joint cosmology seminar at MIT:

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 2:30 pm
Cosman Seminar Room\\
Center for Theoretical Physics\\
Building 6C, Room 6C-442\\
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Reflecting the Universe in a Mirror

Oliver Philcox
Cambridge

Abstract:

Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have cemented the notion that the large-scale Universe is both statistically homogeneous and isotropic. But is it invariant also under (point) reflections? Recent observations of CMB polarization and the distribution of galaxies have challenged this paradigm, and give tentative evidence for new parity-violating processes at work in the early or late Universe. In this talk, I will discuss these measurements and their possible inflationary interpretations, additionally commenting on their status in light of new observational and numerical results.