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19–21 May 2025
University of Pittsburgh
US/Eastern timezone

CMB constraints on non-minimally coupled ultralight dark matter

20 May 2025, 18:00
15m
David Lawrence Hall 104, University of Pittsburgh

David Lawrence Hall 104, University of Pittsburgh

Particle Cosmology Cosmology

Speaker

Dr Subhajit Ghosh (The University of Texas at Austin)

Description

In this talk, I will present bounds on the variation of fundamental constants from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In our theoretically motivated model, the variation is modulated by a scalar field that behaves as an ultralight dark matter (ULDM). We self-consistently compute the effects of the variation of constants on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and propagate those effects to the computation of the CMB spectra. We explore the degeneracies between various effects, such as changes in primordial Helium fraction (Yp), changes due to modified recombination, and the effects on the ULDM. I will present the bounds on the variation of the electron mass and fine structure constant. I will also discuss the implications of the Hubble tension in this context.

Author

Dr Subhajit Ghosh (The University of Texas at Austin)

Presentation materials