The Cosmology group focuses on fundamental problems posed by observations of our Universe, and on developing and testing modifications of gravity both at astrophysical and cosmological scales.
Our research can be divided in three main, interconnected, topics.
The Late Universe. Our main research is on dark energy as well as on the possibility that modifications of gravity could drive the observed accelerated expansion of the Universe. In order to be able to discriminate between the various models using observations, we work on developing new methods of analyzing the data from current and future surveys of large-scale structure. We are also studying the properties of Dark Matter both from a theoretical perspective and in a data-driven approach.
The Early Universe. We also work on the physics of the early Universe. In particular, we investigate implications of the inflationary paradigm and study whether inflation can be embedded into theories of quantum gravity. We also research consistent alternative theories of the early Universe such as bouncing cosmologies, and look into ways in which such ideas may be discriminated, or refuted, by current and future observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background and large-scale structure.
Gravity. In the context of gravitational physics we are investigating whether any evidence of modifications of Einstein's Generral Relativity may be present in high curvature regimes, such as black holes and compact stars. We are interested in calculating how these objects change in the presence of new gravitational degrees of freedom or fifth forces and how future observations may be able to constrain them, for example with pulsar timing observations, gravitational waves from mergers, helioseismology and asteroseismology, and electromagnetic signals from black hole accretion.
