The Accelerating Universe, Dark Energy and Cosmic Sound Waves

[The Phoenix Astronomical Society]

VUW PUBLIC LECTURE, FACULTY OF SCIENCE

The Accelerating Universe, Dark Energy and Cosmic Sound Waves

Professor Warrick Couch,
Victoria University alumnus and Distinguished Professor at the Centre
for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology,
Melbourne, Australia.

One of the most astonishing astrophysical discoveries made at the end
of the last century was that the expansion of the universe is
currently accelerating. It would seem therefore that there is some
mysterious force acting throughout the universe that pushes its
contents apart – what is commonly referred to as “dark energy”.
Alternatively, it might be the case that Einstein’s Theory of General
Relativity somehow breaks down on the very largest scales. Both
possibilities are extremely profound in terms of our physical
understanding of the universe.
This talk will focus on observational efforts going on in Australia to
elucidate the effects of dark energy over cosmic time and hence
distinguish between these two possibilities. Known as the “WiggleZ
Dark Energy Survey”, it exploits the signature of sound waves that
travelled through the very early universe, as a ‘measuring rod’ for
precisely quantifying the behaviour of dark energy. With the survey
close to completion, the first tantalizing insights into what the dark
energy is are almost at hand.

Wednesday 27 October – 6.00 pm
Victoria University Law School
Old Government Building (Lecture Block GBLT1)
(Stout Street Entrance)
WELLINGTON

If you would like to attend this lecture, please RSVP to
science...@vuw.ac.nz with ‘Dark Energy’ in the subject line by
Tuesday 26 October 5 pm.