Cosmology and fundamental physics with the ELT-ANDES spectrograph

Martins, C.J.A.P.; Cooke, R.; Liske, J.; Murphy, M.T.; Noterdaeme, P.; Schmidt, T.M.; Alcaniz, J. S.; Alves, C. S.; Balashev, S.; Cristiani, S.; Di Marcantonio, P.; Génova Santos, R.; Gonçalves, R. S.; González Hernández, J. I.; Maiolino, R.; Marconi, A.; Marques, C. M. J.; Melo e Sousa, M. A. F.; Nunes, N. J.; Origlia, L.; Péroux, C.; Vinzl, S.; Zanutta, A.

Abstract

State-of-the-art 19th century spectroscopy led to the discovery of quantum mechanics, and 20th century spectroscopy led to the confirmation of quantum electrodynamics. State-of-the-art 21st century astrophysical spectrographs, especially ANDES at ESO’s ELT, have another opportunity to play a key role in the search for, and characterization of, the new physics which is known to be out there, waiting to be discovered. We rely on detailed simulations and forecast techniques to discuss four important examples of this point: big bang nucleosynthesis, the evolution of the cosmic microwave background temperature, tests of the universality of physical laws, and a real-time model-independent mapping of the expansion history of the universe (also known as the redshift drift). The last two are among the flagship science drivers for the ELT. We also highlight what is required for the ESO community to be able to play a meaningful role in 2030s fundamental cosmology and show that, even if ANDES only provides null results, such ‘minimum guaranteed science’ will be in the form of constraints on key cosmological paradigms: these are independent from, and can be competitive with, those obtained from traditional cosmological probes.

Citation

Martins, C., Cooke, R., Liske, J., Murphy, M., Noterdaeme, P., Schmidt, T., …Zanutta, A. (2024). Cosmology and fundamental physics with the ELT-ANDES spectrograph. Experimental Astronomy, 57(1), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-024-09928-w

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 30, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Feb 26, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-02
• Deposit Date: Feb 28, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 28, 2024
• Journal: Experimental Astronomy
• Print ISSN: 0922-6435
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-9508
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 57
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-024-09928-w
• Keywords: ANDES, Fundamental physics, Cosmology, High-resolution spectroscopy
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2289502