Astrophysical Probes of Fundamental Physics
arXiv:1011.6591 · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-19397-2_1
Abstract
The dramatic confrontation between new observations and theories of the early and recent universe makes cosmology one of the most rapidly advancing fields in the physical sciences. The universe is a unique laboratory in which to probe fundamental physics, the rationale being to start from fundamental physics inspired models and explore their consequences in sufficient quantitative detail to be able to identify key astrophysical and cosmological tests of the underlying theory (or developing new tests when appropriate). An unprecedented number of such tests will be possible in the coming years, by exploiting the ever improving observational data. In this spirit I will highlight some open issues in cosmology and particle physics and provide some motivation for this symposium.
To appear in the proceedings of the JENAM 2010 Symposium 1, From Varying Couplings to Fundamental Physics (September 2010). Also summarizes the content of a review talk given at IAP workshop on varying constants (November 2010), and of seminars given in Cambridge and Garching