6:00pm-7:00pm on Friday 4 April
Times shown are in GMT (UTC +0) up to the 26th March. For events on or after 27th March times are in BST (UTC +1).
Cambridge Union Society, Debating Chamber, 9A Bridge Street, CB2 1UB
Just a century ago, observational evidence established the existence of other galaxies besides our own. Soon afterwards, it was discovered that the Universe is expanding, driving a profound change in our understanding of the cosmos. In 1998, the prevailing cosmological paradigm was again upended by the discovery that the Universe's expansion is accelerating.
Since then, the remarkable progress in cosmology, spanning Peiris's research career, has been driven by the close interplay between theory and observations. Observational discoveries have led to a Standard Model of cosmology with ingredients not present in the standard model of particle physics – dark matter, dark energy, and a primordial origin for cosmic structure. The physical nature of these ingredients remains a mystery. The race to unravel this cosmic puzzle is now underway, motivating a new generation of ambitious sky surveys across the electromagnetic spectrum and using new messengers such as gravitational waves.
Hiranya Peiris will describe some highlights from her journey through this rapidly changing cosmological landscape in this discourse. She will also discuss how laboratory experiments are helping us test new fundamental physics paradigms developed to explain cosmological observations.
Her research covers a wide range of disciplines within astrophysics and cosmology, including the study of the cosmic microwave background, galaxy evolution and stellar dynamics, as well as leading interdisciplinary collaborations at the interface of cosmology with particle physics and condensed matter physics.
She is a builder of the Dark Energy Science Collaboration of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. This is a large galaxy survey to be conducted at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, with the promise of yielding deep insights into the evolution of the Universe and its underlying physics.
