Faculty Host: Susan Gardner

"Addressing the Dark Energy Crisis''

The discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe, driven by "Dark Energy'', is an indication that our understanding of fundamental physics is incomplete. In particular, the Dark Energy mystery lies at the intersection of gravity and quantum mechanics where we have trouble knitting together a consistent theoretical picture. In some ways our current situation is similar to the circumstances before the advent of quantum mechanics, with experimental results that don't fit into our existing theoretical framework. I will present an overview of the Dark Energy crisis we face, and sketch out some scenarios that might lie in our future.