Particle Cosmology

Abstract

Particle cosmology is the branch of science that seeks to understand the birth and evolution of the Universe by applying the principles of particle physics. It brings together the physics of the very small (fundamental particles and forces) with the physics of the very large (the structure and evolution of the cosmos). In many ways, the early Universe acts as a natural laboratory - one far more energetic than any collider we can build - offering unique insights into phenomena that may never be accessible on Earth. Cosmological observations such as the Cosmic Microwave Background, the distribution of galaxies, and the accelerating expansion of the Universe serve as windows into the fundamental laws of nature. At the same time, theoretical developments in particle physics have led to theories, such as inflation, baryogenesis, and Dark Matter, that help explain key features of the cosmos.

Invited contribution to the Encyclopaedia of Particle Physics

References in corpus (17)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• Modified Gravity and Cosmology
• f(R) theories
• Planck 2018 results. X. Constraints on inflation
• The Standard Model Higgs boson as the inflaton
• Massive Gravity
• Encyclopaedia Inflationaris
• Cosmology and Fundamental Physics with the Euclid Satellite
• Electroweak baryogenesis
• Reheating in Inflationary Cosmology: Theory and Applications
• Numerical simulations of acoustically generated gravitational waves at a first order phase transition
• Evidence for neutrino emission from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068
• First Dark Matter Search with Nuclear Recoils from the XENONnT Experiment
• Theory and Numerics of Gravitational Waves from Preheating after Inflation
• Hunting for Primordial Non-Gaussianity in the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Stochastic gravitational waves from cosmic string loops in scaling