April 23, 2023

Marc Kamionkowski: Crises In Cosmology (#312)

1 hour 28 minutes

Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/RVLMnBsJgKI?=sub_confirmation=1

Marc Kamionkowski is a theoretical physicist, who’s research is in cosmology, astrophysics, and elementary-particle theory. His main focus has been on particle dark matter, inflation the cosmic microwave background, and cosmic acceleration. His 1999 paper, A Polarization Pursuer’s Guide inspired Professor Keating to create the BICEP experiment. He is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics at Johns Hopkins University.

00:00:00 intro

00:04:39 The BICEP 2 Press Conference St. Patrick’s Day 2014 and how Professor Kamionkowski inspired the BICEP collaboration and the story of the well known cosmology paper: A Polarization Pursuers' Guide, 1999 ( https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9909281 ), the inspiration for BICEP.

00:06:58 Did you realized the implications of your paper for telescope design at the time? Marks’s proposition to measure the amplitude of primordial gravitational waves, even with a small aperture telescope. The origins of BICEP and the Simons Observatory.

00:15:40 Optical surveys are still a cornerstone of observational cosmology like weak gravitational lensing and comparisons to E/ B mode curl components measurements.

00:28:50 Is a theory of everything possible? Are physicists “lost in math”? What to you think make good mathematical models? Little attention has been given to alternatives to symmetries in string / super-symmetry theories which have not been productive? Behold the examples of Bohr and Balmer’s formula and the breakthroughs of the 20th century. The luck of 20th Century Physics. The price tags and time scales are much bigger now. Don’t abandon the notion of symmetry!

00:34:53 The cosmological principle; should it go away? What would you do if it did? All models are approximations. We have good descriptions.

00:41:00 The social contagion of Eric Lerner and the controversy over the refutation of the Big Bang Theory. https://iai.tv/articles/the-big-bang-didnt-happen-auid-2215 Does it make you re-evaluate the standard model of the Universe?

00:45:5l0 About the Hubble Tension. What is it? Why worry? Or not!

00:56:00 Professor Kamionkowski’s explanation of early Dark Energy and his 2018 paper.

00:59:10 Anti-helium and anti-matter clouds

01:01:10 What theoretical physics “crisis” or anomalies should we most focus on? How do you choose? Let’s not all focus on the same problems! What about the cosmic optical background found by the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager?

01:10:35 Is there an Axion Persurer’s Guide to be written?

01:12:00 What is the status of the theory of Inflation and where will it go? A field Marc helped initiate.

01:17:50 First existential question: What would you put on your monolith?

01:21:20 What have you changed you mind about?

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