Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity Commons^™

Cosmological Vector Fields And Constraining The Neutrino Masses, Avery J. Tishue

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

In this thesis I explore two main topics: the role and consequences of cosmological vector fields, and new ideas for constraining fundamental physics with state-of-the-art experiments. These topics are disparate in content and technique but unified in their attempt to leverage novel approaches to better understand longstanding questions in cosmology. These questions, such as ``What is causing the universe to accelerate today?'' and ``What are the neutrino masses?'', underpin the modern cosmological paradigm. They play a key role in our understanding of cosmic history, the formation of structure, and the fate of our universe. Answers to or hints about these …

New Physics In The Age Of Precision Cosmology, Vivian I. Sabla

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

The Lambda-cold dark matter (LCDM) model has become the standard model of cosmology because of its ability to reproduce a vast array of cosmological observations, from the earliest moments of our Universe, to the current period of accelerated expansion, which it does with great accuracy. However, the success of this model only distracts from its inherent flaws and ambiguities. LCDM is purely phenomenological, providing no physical explanation for the nature of dark matter, responsible for the formation and evolution of large-scale structure, and giving an inconclusive explanation for dark energy, which drives the current period of accelerated expansion.

Furthermore, cracks …

A Lagrangian Which Mathematically Models Lambda Cdm Cosmology And Explains The Null Results Of Dark Astroparticle Searches., Hontas Farmer

Hontas F Farmer

Background: The Lambda CDM model or is the standard model of modern cosmology. It is named for dark energy and cold dark matter. This model contains a number of separate components with different mathematical formulations. Strong observational evidence for dark matter has been found by astronomy. At the same time astroparticle physics observations have not found solid evidence of dark matter. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reconcile observations of dark matter effects on the galactic and cosmological scales with the null results of astroparticle physics observations such as CDMS and ANTARES. This paper will also provide a …