Caltech Astronomy Public Lecture Series - Trying to Prove Einstein Wrong - Agnès Ferté - 10/09/2020

Why is the universe’s expansion getting faster and faster? Maybe Einstein’s theory of gravitation is incorrect for large cosmic distances? It takes hundreds of cosmologists, the most advanced telescopes and instruments, and many hours of numerical computation to answer these questions. I will explain my work taking part in this endeavor as a cosmologist in the Dark Energy Survey, from observing galaxies at a large telescope in Chile to doing intensive computations on supercomputers. Timestamps below: Announcements: 00:00 What is in the sky tonight? 4:20 Introduction to Einstein Presentation: 07:20 Einstein Presentation: 08:48 Q&A Panel Introductions: 47:37 Q&A Panel 51:56 Closing remarks: 1:55:47 Participants: --Dr. Agnes Ferté is a postdoctoral researcher at JPL in cosmology. She is a member of the Dark Energy Survey collaboration, testing nonstandard cosmological models with its latest data. She is in particular interested in weak gravitational lensing to test laws of gravity. She is still trying to prove Einstein wrong to this day. Dr. Ferté is from the countryside near Reims in France, moved to Edinburgh in the UK for three years for a first postdoctoral position, followed by London for a few months and started at JPL two years ago. When not working she can be found doing sport, reading, chess, borrowing her friend’s dog, and hiking. https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Ferte/ --Dr. Leo C Stein is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Mississippi, and through the magic of the internet is "back visiting" his old Caltech stomping grounds, where he was both an undergrad and a postdoctoral researcher. Leo's main research focus is how we can learn more about the nature of gravity from compact objects (like black holes and neutron stars) and gravitational waves. In other words, he wants to test Einstein's theory of general relativity with observations! His research is a mix of writing/running (super)computer simulations, including smashing together black holes, and old school pencil-and-paper calculations. When he's not working on gravity, Leo enjoys crossword puzzles, making fresh pasta by hand, and making interactive visualizations (check some out at https://duetosymmetry.com/tags/#interactive). ---Mia de los Reyes is a fourth-year PhD student in Astronomy at Caltech. She studies the chemical composition of small galaxies near the Milky Way. When not confined to her own home, she enjoys rock climbing and aerial silks; given the current state of the world, she's gotten really into sewing projects and has also started watching The Umbrella Academy. https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/~madlr/ --Dr. Cameron Hummels is a postdoctoral researcher in theoretical astrophysics at Caltech. He creates supercomputer simulations to study the formation and evolution of galaxies since the Big Bang. In addition to astrophysics and public education, he is really enthusiastic about trail-running, long-distance backpacking, brewing, chess, and the astronaut program. http://chummels.org