Topic: The Cosmological Bootstrap: Theory and Observations

Speaker: Dr. Dong-Gang Wang

Coordinates: PCFT C1124, 14:30, Friday, April 26

Abstract: Our understanding of the primordial Universe largely depends on the information from spatial correlations of matter distributions. Recently, the advances of the "cosmological bootstrap" program offer new perspectives and powerful tools to study these cosmological correlators. In this talk, I will first review the developments of this exciting new direction. Then I will apply the bootstrap approach to systematically classify the primary observational target — primordial non-Gaussianities (bispectrum) from cosmic inflation. For the first time, we derive a complete set of scalar bispectra with analytical shapes and large signals, incorporating three leading scenarios: single field inflation, cosmological collider physics, and multi-field inflation. Remarkably, the bootstrap analysis predict novel phenomenologies, which are testable even in today’s observations. In the end, guided by the theoretical studies, I will present a comprehensive data analysis of these predictions using the latest CMB observation from Planck satellite. As the first attempt, we bridge the gap between theories and observations, and demonstrate how the cosmological bootstrap paves the way towards the discovery of new high energy physics in the very early Universe.