W Why y is t the an Uni nd o iver old? rse s so bi ig

 Con
nferenciass de divulgación ccientífica de la Rea
al Sociedaad Españ
ñola de Físicca en cola
aboraciónn con la FFundación
n Ramón Areces Ciclo H
Hablemos de Físicaa, Faculta
ad de Cien
ncias Físiccas (UCM
M) Celebrando la Relativvidad General de Albert Ein
instein W
Whyy is tthe Uniiverrse sso biig an
nd o
old?
JJohn Elllis Kin
ng’s Colleege Lond
don and CERN Jue
eves 21 dee enero d
de 2016, 1
12.30h Sallón de Acttos Julio R
Rey Pastorr, Facultad
d de Cienccias Matem
máticas (U
UCM), Plaza de las CCiencias, 3
3 28040‐M
Madrid Abstra
act
Co
osmologicaal inflation
n is a propposal that for a while, very eaarly in its h
history, the Universe expanded
d (almost ) exponen
ntially fast. This coould explaain why the Universe is so large
e and has not (yet) collapsed. Inflation can also explain whyy the Universe is so homogenneous and
d isotropicc on very large scales, and whyy its geometry is (alm
most) flat . Moreove
er, quantu
um effectss during in
nflation the strucctures see
coulld have generated g
en in the Universee today, such s
as galaxies and clusters. Measurem
ments of the t cosmic microw
wave background are probing models of inflatiion, and may sho
ow us hhow to connect c
them
m with particle physsics, quantum graviity and perhaps stri ng theoryy.