Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology) |
Events During the Week of April 19th through April 26th, 2026
Monday, April 20th, 2026
- A data-driven prediction for the primordial deuterium abundance
- Time: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
- Place: Chamberlin 5280
- Speaker: Hongwan Liu, Boston U.
- Abstract: The primordial deuterium abundance D/H from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) is one of the most powerful probes of ΛCDM cosmology and its extensions. I will present a novel, fully data-driven method for predicting D/H using Gaussian processes, validated with Monte Carlo tests that confirm negligible bias and accurate coverage of the resulting uncertainties. Applying the same Monte Carlo framework to polynomial fitting methods commonly used in the literature, we find that these systematically overestimate D/H. Assuming baryon abundances from CMB measurements, our predictions are approximately 2σ discrepant with observations of the primordial D/H. Event recording:
- Host: Joshua Foster
Tuesday, April 21st, 2026
- No events scheduled
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026
- No events scheduled
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026
- No events scheduled
Friday, April 24th, 2026
- No events scheduled