Task B: Theoretical Particle Task B: Theoretical Particle AstrophysicsAstrophysics

History of Task B• 1999: MK arrives as professor• 1999-2003: ~$100K/year (MK summer salary

plus student)• 2003-2006: ~$150K/year (MK summer salary,

student, plus 2nd student or 50% postdoc)• 2006: Sean Carroll arrives as Moore SRA• 2006-2007: $200K/yr (added $50K for SC

research expenses)• 2007: Chris Hirata arrives as asst professor; Task

increased to $250K/yr

Accomplishments of program, 1999-2008: Postdocs trained

Andriy Kurylov, 2002-2005 (McKinsey)

Milos Milosavljevic, 2002-2006 (asst prof, UT Austin)

Nicole Bell, 2003-2005 (asst prof, Melbourne)

Elena Pierpaoli, 2003-2006 (asst prof, USC)

Steve Furlanetto, 2003-2006 (asst prof, Yale/UCLA)

Stefano Profumo. 2005-2007 (asst prof, UC Santa Cruz)

Daisuke Nagai, 2005-2008 (asst prof, Yale)

Piero Ullio, 1999-2000 (SISSA, tenured)

Ken Nollett, 2000-2002 (permanent, Argonne nuclear theory)

Peng Oh, 2000-2003 (tenured, UCSB)

Andrew Benson, 2000-2003 (SRF, Caltech)

Asantha Cooray, 2001-2004 (tenured, UC Irvine)

Arielle Phillips, 2002-2005 (postdoc, Amherst)

Accomplishments of program, 1999-2008: Graduate students

trained Tristan Smith, 2008 (postdoc, Berkeley) Jonathan Pritchard, 2007 (Hubble Fellow,

Harvard) Michael Kesden, 2005 (postdoc, CITA) Nevin Weinberg, 2005 (postdoc, Berkeley) Kris Sigurdson, 2005 (asst prof, UBC) Michael Santos, 2002 (STScI)

Accomplishments of program, 1999-2008: Research

Accomplishments Several hundred refereed articles including, e.g.,

Parity violation in CMB Inflation with broken scale invariance Intrinsic galaxy alignments and cosmic shear First-star contributions to cosmic infrared background The big rip Separation of gravitational waves and weak lensing in CMB polarization Dark matter, dwarf galaxies, and the equivalence principle Solar system tests of f(R) gravity theories A new CMB upper limit to short-wavelength gravitational waves Novel effects of and telescope searches for decaying dark matter

Review articles on CMB, dark matter, dark energy, universal extra dimensions, halo clustering, and 21-cm probes of high-z universe

People to be affiliated with Caltech theoretical cosmology

and particle astrophysics 2008-2009

Postdocs:

• Dan Babich (Moore prize scholar)

• Shin’ichiro Ando (Fairchild Fellow)

• Annika Peter (DoE-Caltech)

• Matt Johnson (Moore Fellow)

• Alyson Brooks (Fairchild)

• Faculty:

• Marc Kamionkowski (Professor)

• Sean Carroll (Senior Research Associate [i.e., research professor])

• Chris Hirata (assistant professor)

• Andrew Benson (Senior Research Fellow [i.e., research asst prof]; Moore)

People to be affiliated with Caltech theoretical cosmology

and particle astrophysics 2008-2009

Graduate Students:• Heywood Tam (5th year; DoE)• Lotty Ackerman (5th year;

DoE)• Anthony Pullen (5th year; NSF

Fellow-TA-DoE)• Adrienne Erickcek (5th year;

NSF Fellow---TA--DpE)• Dan Grin (5th year; Moore

Fellow-TA-DoE)• Vera Gluscevic (TA)• Samuel Lee (TA)

•Visiting Associates:•Asantha Cooray (UC, Irvine)•Kris Gorski (JPL)•Elena Pierpaoli (USC)

•Visitors:•Robert Caldwell (Dartmouth; 2 months; fall 2008)

Our work is relevant for

• SNAP/JDEM• CMB experiments (WMAP, Planck, CMBPOL…• GLAST/VERITAS/STACEE/….• Collider experiments• Neutrino experiments• CDMS, etc.• Super-K, IceCube….• LSST• SDSS/2dF….• AMS….

MK: Current research topics

• Statistical isotropy of CMB and inflation• GLAST probes of Galactic substructure• Theory of Galactic substructure• Telescope axion search• Keck-telescope measurements of dark energy• ANRP review of dark energy• Oscillating-field dark-energy models• Voids and non-Gaussianity• DAMA signal and energetic neutrinos from Sun• CMB non-Gaussianity

SC: Current research topics

• Statistical isotropy of CMB and inflation• Lorentz violation in cosmology• Gauss-Bonnet gravity• Fifth forces• Variable-Planck-scale inflation• Entropy and origin of Universe

CH: Current research topics

• SDSS tests of statistical• Primordial non-Gaussianity• Recombination• tons of other things

Departures from Statistical Isotropy? (Erickcek,Carroll, Kamionkowski,

June ‘08)