Distinguished Lecture Series

Professor Robert Kirshner

Harvard University

will give a series of lectures on

Exploding Stars and the Accelerating Universe

Topic: Astrophysics

Observations of exploding stars halfway across the Universe show that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up. We attribute this to a pervasive "dark energy" whose properties we would like to understand. In this series of talks, Professor Kirshner will show the evidence from supernovae, and outline the present state of knowledge on dark energy, which is completely consistent with a modern version of the cosmological constant, but with a ridiculously low value. Then he will discuss ways to use infrared observations to make the supernova measurements with better accuracy and higher precision. Finally he will discuss how the matrix of evidence from other observations, including the cosmic microwave background and the growth of structure in the universe, can help us understand whether modifications to general relativity or a time-varying component of dark energy can be ruled out. Professor Kirshner (with collaborators) won the Gruber Prize for Cosmology in 2007. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). He is a frequent public lecturer on science. His popular-level book "The Extravagant Universe: exploding stars, dark energy, and the accelerating cosmos" won the AAP Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Physics and Astronomy.

Program of Lectures

Type Title Date Time Location Presentation
Colloquium Exploding Stars and the Accelerating Universe 22-Dec-2011 16:30 Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323)
Astrophysics Seminar Infrared observations of supernovae-- a path to better knowledge of dark energy 26-Dec-2011 14:30 Lidow 620
Astrophysics Seminar Constraining Dark Energy from all Directions 28-Dec-2011 14:30 Lidow 620