Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Inflation: The Big Mysteries of Cosmology

Dr. Michael S. Turner, Professor, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago. Our current cosmological model describes the evolution of the universe from a very early burst of accelerated expansion (known as inflation) a tiny fraction of a second after the beginning, through the assembly of galaxies and large-scale structure shaped by dark matter, to our present epoch where dark energy controls the ultimate fate of the universe. As successful as it is, this model rests upon three mysterious pillars: inflation, dark energy and particle dark matter. All three point to exciting and important new physics that have yet to be revealed and understood - or possibly, to a fatal flaw in the paradigm.

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Dark Matter and Dark Energy

The Invisible Universe by Professor Ian Morison

We believe that 96% of the mass and energy content of our Universe is invisible. Some is in the form of Dark Matter whose presence we can only detect by its gravitational influence. The majority, called Dark Energy, appears to be ripping our Universe apart.

About the Lecturer
Ian Morison is Emeritus Gresham Professor of Astronomy and Fellow of Gresham College.

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Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Dark Matter Universe on the Threshold of Discovery by Edward Kolb

Ninety-five percent of the universe is missing! Astronomical observations suggest that most of the mass of the universe is in a mysterious form known as dark matter and most of the energy in the universe is in an even more mysterious form called dark energy. While the nature of dark energy seems elusive, physicists are on the verge of confirming or refuting the leading dark-matter hypothesis that dark matter is a new elementary particle species known as a weakly-interacting massive particle, or WIMP.

About the Lecturer
Edward Kolb is is the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics and the College and Chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

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Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Dark Energy Rules the Universe

The revolutionary discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, not slowing down from gravity, means that 75 percent of our universe consists of mysterious dark energy. Berkeley Lab theoretical physicist Eric Linder delves into the mystery of dark energy.

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Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe

Observations of very distant exploding stars show that the expansion of the Universe is now speeding up, rather than slowing down due to gravity as expected. Over the largest distances, our Universe seems to be dominated by a repulsive "dark energy" of unknown origin that stretches the very fabric of space itself faster and faster with time.

About the Lecturer
Alex Filippenko (NAS), University of California, Berkeley, was a member of both teams that discovered in 1998 the accelerating expansion of the Universe, driven by "dark energy."

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Dark Matter and Dark Energy