Hello,

We will have two theory seminars this week, please see the information below. Note the unusual day for the first, unusual room for the second.

Best, Kallia

------------------- Date/place: Tuesday 16, 2pm, H331 Speaker: Gianfranco Bertone (UvA)

Title: The quest for Dark Matter

Abstract: After a brief review of the Dark Matter problem in Cosmology and its possible connection with Particle Physics, I will discuss the prospects for detecting Dark Matter at the LHC and with the upcoming generation of Astroparticle experiments, focusing in particular on the complementarity of direct, indirect and accelerator searches, and showing with an explicit example how to combine them in a self-consistent way. I will conclude with a brief overview of the research activities of the new GRAPPA Institute at the U. of Amsterdam. -------------------

Date/place: Thursday 18, 2pm, N328 Speaker: Christophe Ringeval (Louvain)

Title: Early universe cosmology after Planck 2013

Abstract: The 2013 release of the Planck satellite data has provided unprecedented measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies and much more. Together with a few new observables at our disposal, these results can now be used to improve our understanding of the early universe. After an introduction to CMB physics and a selected summary of the Planck 2013 results, we will illustrate over two examples, cosmic strings and inflation, how the Planck data give us a window to very high energy physics provided one uses enough precise and systematic theoretical predictions.

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