Colloquium

Department of Physics & Astronomy

The Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy

October 10, 2001l Hit 832
Date : October 10, 2001 16:00 ~
Speaker : 김정욱 원장(고등과학원)
Professor :
Location : 56동106호
The Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy

Chung Wook Kim

KIAS

After a brief pedestrian review of the Standard Hot Big Bang (HBB) cosmology, the recent spectacular discovery of the vacuum (dark) energy in the Universe is presented. The dark energy is considered by many as the most mysterious object discovered so far in the history of basic science. The discovery is based mainly on the two observations; cosmic microwave background radiation (HBB fossil) and distant super nova type Ia. According to the observations, the current Universe consists of about 35% of matter, visible and invisible (dark), and about 65% of the dark energy which may be the indication of the presence of the Einstein’s cosmological constant. Due to the presence of this dark energy, the Universe has already entered an accelerating phase instead of a decelerating phase expected by the HBB model. The discovery and several important implications of the dark energy in the Universe will be discussed without using technical terms. Also demonstrated is the fact that we live at this time and are able to observe the dark energy is an incredible miracle. Some speculations on the nature of the dark energy are also presented.