Colloquium April 23rd: Dragan Huterer
“Cosmological results from the DESI Year-1 baryon acoustic oscillations measurements” (U. Michigan)
The standard model of cosmology contains two mysterious components, dark matter and dark energy, that dominate the dynamics of the universe yet whose physical origin is not well understood. I will briefly review the history and status of dark energy, the component that causes the accelerated expansion of the universe. I will also explain the physics behind how dark energy is constrained with cosmological observations. Then I will present and discuss cosmological results from the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations in the first year of observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI Y1), which were announced on April 4, 2024. These Y1 and future (Y2-Y5) DESI results will provide an important contribution to the overall constraints on dark energy, neutrino mass, and primordial non-Gaussianity.