The Universe in a Nutshell: From Big Bang to Dark Energy

In this talk, Rajeev Kumar will take you through the 14 billion years of the evolution of the Universe, from its earliest moments to the present epoch. From the tiny primordial fluctuations that seeded cosmic structures to the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy, our Universe presents a remarkable puzzle: why does it have the properties we observe?

While the standard cosmological model describes a wealth of observations with remarkable success, the fundamental origins of these properties remain elusive. In this talk, I will explore how early Universe physics, primordial black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmic microwave background observations can uncover the physics underlying our cosmic history.