Western Sydney Amateur Astronomy Group

Vasudev Mittal is a Physics Foundation Scholar and PhD candidate at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, The University of Sydney, where he works with Prof. Geraint F. Lewis. His research focuses on one of the most fundamental questions in cosmology: Does the Universe look the same in all directions on the largest scales? By analyzing data from large astronomical surveys, he investigates whether our current picture of the Universe needs refinement.

Speaker: Vasudev Mittal (University of Sydney - SIfA)

Vasudev will be attending in person.

Topic: Is the universe the same everywhere? Maybe or Maybe Not!!

The Cosmological Principle (CP) is an idea which asserts that if you pick two boxes large enough in random directions in the universe, they will look the same on average. More than a hundred years ago, Albert Einstein used this idea to develop the first mathematical model of the universe. Since then, the CP has been used as the cornerstone of modern cosmology, with many modern concepts like dark energy, inflation, and the Hubble tension all being based on models developed using this idea. However, this idea is an ad hoc assumption – it was written without checking whether the universe indeed obeys this idea or not. Over the years, several tests have been formulated to check whether this idea holds. In this talk, I will introduce the audience to one such test, which checks if the universe indeed looks the same in all directions. The test works by checking if the deductions made by observing the distant universe agree with those made by observing the local universe. Recent results in this domain have found serious anomalies, which have brought the validity of the CP into question. I will also discuss recent developments in the domain and bring the audience to the forefront of a topical problem in modern cosmology.

Visitors wishing to attend in person or online via Zoom must email us to make a booking.