Café & Kosmos 7 February 2011

After our recent discussion about dark matter, the Café & Kosmos will now concentrate on the other invisible component of the Universe, the dark energy. With its share of 73 percent of the total energy budget, the dark energy dominates the Universe. It is the driving force that causes it to expand faster and faster. The discovery of this accelerated expansion dates back to 1998; it is still a fairly young field of investigation.

In his research, Prof. Stefan Hofmann (Excellence Cluster Universe) investigates the question of how the dark energy fits into existing physical models. The cosmologist will expose various scenarios: is the model by Einstein satisfactory, with a cosmological constant or a vacuum energy, or should the scientists consider an alternative theory of the gravitation to explain the physics of the very large distances in the Universe? He will discuss the implications with the Café & Kosmos guests.

The Café & Kosmos series of discussions is organised jointly by ESO, the Excellence Cluster Universe and the Max-Planck Institutes for Physics, Astrophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics. The discussions take place on the first Monday of each month at Café Jasmin in Munich. After a brief introduction the scientists take questions from the audience and discuss current issues from the cosmos.

Please note that the Café & Kosmos events take place in German.

What: Café & Kosmos – Dark energy – why is the Universe expanding faster and faster?
When: 7 February 2011, 19:00 (until approximately 20:30)
Where: Café Jasmin, Steinheilstrasse 20 (U2, Theresienstraße). Admission is free.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory

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