Tests of the Dark Energy Paradigm
GR or No?
Test of phenomenological “gravitational slip”
Copernican?
Test of the homogeneity of the universe
Robert Caldwell
Dartmouth College
14 May 2007
Origins of
Dark Energy
Conference
Open Problems in Cosmology:
Peebles 2003
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Systematize Tests of Gravity
Tighten the Evidence for Lambda
Find the Physics of Vacuum Energy
Sort Out the Cosmic Coincidences
Test the Physics of the Dark Sector
Find the Physics of High Redshift
Foundations
 General Relativity
 Homogeneous, Isotropic Spacetime
Constraints on a New Post-General Relativity
Cosmological Parameter,
with Asantha Cooray & Alessandro Melchiorri,
astro-ph/0703375
Test of the Copernican Principle,
with Albert Stebbins, soon 2007!
Gamow (1962)
(Bertschinger 2006; Amendola et al 2007)
Impact on CMB TT
Impact on CMB/galaxy
 The toy model is already restrictive
 More realistic models are on the way
 Motivation for better measurements of y-distortion
Stable Foundations…
 General Relativity
 Homogeneous, Isotropic Spacetime
 Dark Energy (, Q, …?)
Constraints on a New Post-General Relativity
Cosmological Parameter,
with Asantha Cooray & Alessandro Melchiorri,
astro-ph/0703375
Test of the Copernican Principle,
with Albert Stebbins, soon 2007!
Gamow (1962)