Bernard60: Conference Summary

Peter Coles

(University of Nottingham)

The abnormal distribution

Why is the density field so lognormal?

“CONCORDANCE”

The Standard Model

Cosmic Comments

• The consistency of so many different measurements with a “standard” model is truly remarkable

• ..but the standard model is not complete• Can it be completed?• Landscape versus Prediction• Is there a fundamental theory?• Anthropic principles

Universe versus University

• Cold Dark Matter = administration

• Baryons = academics

• Remorseless growth of CDM does not imply the same for baryons (“downsizing”)

• “Chaos”= “a space where no information exists or where information is lost.”

• Dark Energy=government interference

TG

“All science is cosmology”

Arthur Stanley Eddington

Galaxies and Surveys

• Galactic archaeology

• Is the Milky Way a freak?

• “The only normal person there was Bernard…”

• Dwarf galaxies: are they segregated?

• SDSS versus 2dFGRS

GAIA: One Billion Stars in 3-d will Provide…

• in our Galaxy…– the distance and velocity distributions of all stellar populations– the spatial and dynamic structure of the disk and halo– its formation history

• …and beyond– definitive distance standards out to the LMC/SMC– rapid reaction alerts for supernovae and burst sources (~20,000)– QSO detection, redshifts, microlensing structure (~500,000)– fundamental quantities to unprecedented accuracy: to 10-7 (10-3

present)

“The Essence of Cosmology is Statistics”

George McVittie

SKA (Square Kilometre Array)

• 0.15-20 GHz• 1 sq. deg. (1.4 GHz)• interferometer• 0.1 arcsecond

resolution at 1.4 GHz (like Hubble)

• Best ever sensitivity in radio!

Precision Cosmology

“…as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know.”

WMAP

• WMAP has raised the bar for quantitative cosmological studies..

• There are anomalies, such as the “Axle of Elvis”

• Polarization is hard…

• Sunyaev-Zel’dovich.

“If tortured sufficiently, data will confess to almost

anything”

Fred Menger

Polarization Map (?)

Gravitational Waves

• Experiments: nearly there after decades of steady progress!

• Theory: progress only in last few years..• Holy Grail• The Grail Quest was a futile search for an

non-existent object of dubious significance which consumed a vast amount of resources.

Happy Birthday Bernard!

..and thanks!!