Raul Jimenez: Understanding the Universe, Model Independent Cosmology

Sydney CPPC Seminar, 24th May 2024

The current standard model of cosmology describes the whole observable Universe with just seven free parameters. Except maybe some anomalies which are called “tensions” However, modeling is not equivalent to understanding. In this talk I will review the effort by my group on trying to describe the Universe without a model in order to understand it. I will present results regarding the expansion history and absolute age of the Universe, how to explore the Universe inside and outside the past light cone, how to measure the standard ruler and, finally, a decisive constraint on the hierarchy of neutrinos. This approach should hopefully open a new avenue to learn fundamental physics from the sky.