The CMB and theories of the primordial universe

8/19 - 9/4, 2013

Cosmology is undergoing a period of rapid advances as theories of the primordial universe are being confronted with increasingly stringent observational constraints. This spring the Planck Collaboration released its first cosmological results and the results including the polarization data are expected within the next year. Other experiments such as ACT and SPT have placed stringent constraints on smaller scales, and a number of efforts from the ground and from space are either underway or in the planning stage vying for a first detection of the B modes predicted from inflationary theory. The theme of this targeted workshop is to take stock of the present situation examining what has changed as a result of the new data and carry out some targeted work elucidating the link between the observations and theory. The theoretical and observational constraints on models of inflation which are favored by the Planck and WMAP data will be examined.

• Current schedule

We will organize a small one-day workshop on 30 August. Anyone interested in the topic is welcome to attend it.
• Program
• Participants

We regularly have coffee break during the period of this molecule workshop at 10:30 and 15:00 almost everyday. The place of the coffee break is
　 8/19-8/22 : K202 (This room is used for a seminar from 16:00 on 8/22)
　 8/26-8/29 : K102
　 9/ 2-9/ 4 : K102
The room for the coffee break is also kept for the discussion among the workshop participants. Basically, this coffee break would be supported by the donation from the participants. We appreciate your contribution, but do not worry. We will not request much. The coffee is supposed to be prepared by the participants themselves. The instruction how to make coffee will be found in the same room. It would be also appreciated a lot if you bring some sweets or cakes for the coffee break.

If you have a topic on which you would like to discuss with the other participants, we recommend you to organize a short seminar (at most 30min) followed by a discussion meeting. The seminar and the discussion meeting will be held in the same room as the coffee break. Please send us your proposal (the topic and the preferred date), if you wish to organize such discussion.

Martin Bucher
Misao Sasaki

namikawa (at) yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp