Q&A Webcast with John Carlstrom, Walt Ogburn, Michael Turner & Abigail Vieregg
Friday, 18 April 2014, 1:00 to 1:50 pm PDT (20:00 to 20:50 UTC)

The first proof that the universe underwent an almost unimaginably fast expansion when it was only a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second old has taken the world by storm. This sudden growth spurt was first theorized more than three decades ago. Yet only last month did astrophysicists reveal the first hard evidence that the universe swelled from microscopic to cosmic size almost instantly — an announcement so huge it’s being compared to the discovery of the Higgs boson.

On April 18, 1:00-1:50 pm PDT (4:00-4:50 pm EDT), two of the scientists who made this groundbreaking discovery will come together for a conversation with two of the pioneering leaders of the field. Together, they will examine the detection of a distinctive, swirling pattern in the universe’s first light, what the swirl tells us about that monumental growth spurt, and the many implications on the way we understand the universe around us.

When:
April 18 (Friday), 1:00 to 1:50 pm PDT

Where:
http://www.kavlifoundation.org/science-spotlights/spotlight-live-secrets-universe’s-first-light

How to Submit Questions:
Questions can be submitted ahead of and during this webcast by email to info@kavlifoundation.org or posted on Twitter with the hashtag #KavliLive.

Webmasters:
An embed code is available. Submit request to info@kavlifoundation.org

About the Participants

John Carlstrom — Dr. Carlstrom leads two experiments that study the universe’s first light: the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica and the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Array in California. One of the foremost researchers in this field, Dr. Carlstrom is an expert at extracting information from patterns in light from the early universe. He is the Deputy Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. Dr. Carlstrom is also the S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics at the University of Chicago.

Walter Ogburn — Dr. Ogburn is a member of the BICEP2 team that made this important discovery. He also conducts work at The Keck Array, a suite of telescopes at the South Pole that also search for twists in the universe’s first light. Dr. Ogburn is a postdoctoral researcher at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University.

Michael S. Turner (Moderator) — Dr. Turner is a theoretical cosmologist who works at the intersection of cosmology and elementary particle physics to understand the origin and evolution of the universe. Renowned for his work on inflationary cosmology, the characteristics of dark energy and the nature of dark matter, Dr. Turner is the Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics as well as the Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.

Abigail Vieregg — Dr. Vieregg is an active member of the BICEP2 team. In addition, she works on The Keck Array and the ANITA experiment, which studies ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos. A member of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Dr. Vieregg is also an assistant professor at the University of Chicago.

Contact:
James Cohen
+1 (805) 278-7495
cohen@kavlifoundation.org