Talk Details

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 3:15pm

Dominik Schleicher (ITA):

"Exploring the physics of the universe"

Abstract. Present and upcoming observations both in the local and the high-redshift universe provide new probes of our universe and its nature. In this talk, I will show possibilities to constrain primordial magnetic fields and properties of dark matter. Primordial magnetic fields could be generated in the early universe during QCD or electroweak phase transitions, and may then influence the thermal history during the dark ages as well as the formation of structures in the universe. The nature of dark matter can be probed and constrained from observations of the extragalactic gamma-ray background, as well as observations from the center of our galaxy. I will discuss the present status of these observations and their potential indications.