Join us for an evening among the galaxies to learn about the matter field, gravity on very large scales, and the geometry of the universe from AMTD postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Alex Krolewski.
The event will feature a talk by Dr. Krolewski with a question-and-answer period, followed by some light refreshments and rotating tours of the Gustav Bakos Observatory. This event is open to all students and postdoctoral scholars with an interest in astronomy, dark matter and gravitational force with a focus on scholars outside the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics.
WHEN | January 26th, 7 pm – 8:30 pm
WHERE | Physics Building
RSVP | To register, please visit An evening among the galaxies: gravitational lensing and dark energy Tickets, Thu, 26 Jan 2023 at 7:00 PM | Eventbrite. Space is limited, registration is on a first come, first serve basis.
This is a free event with limited capacity, students and postdoctoral scholars outside the Waterloo Center for Astrophysics are strongly encouraged to attend.
About Dr. Alex Krolewski:
Dr.
Alex
Krolewski
was
a
recipient
of
the
AMTD
Waterloo
Global
Talent
Postdoctoral
Fellowship
in
2020
and
currently
works
with
Dr.
Will
Percival
at
the
Perimeter
Institute
for
Theoretical
Physics.
He
received
his
BA
in
Physics
and
Astrophysics
from
Harvard
in
2015,
and
recently
finished
his
PhD
in
Astrophysics
at
University
of
California
Berkeley
in
June
2020
under
the
guidance
of
Dr.
Martin
White
and
Dr.
Simone
Ferraro.
Over
the
last
two
years
as
an
AMTD
scholar,
Alex
has
measured
how
much
distant
galaxies
lens
the
earliest
light
from
the
Big
Bang,
shedding
light
on
an
intriguing
discrepancy
between
measurements
of
the
distant
and
nearby
Universe.
Currently,
Alex
is
continuing
his
involvement
in
the
international
Dark
Energy
Spectroscopic
Instrument
(DESI)
collaboration
(along
with
members
of
the
Waterloo
Centre
for
Astrophysics,
as
well
as
nearly
70
research
institutes
around
the
world),
which
will
revolutionize
our
understanding
of
the
large-scale
structure
of
the
Universe.
More about Dr. Krolewski’s work:
Thanks to a flood of high-quality data, cosmologists over the past 20 years have precisely measured the contents of the Universe and firmly established a "standard cosmological model" that holds that the Universe is 70% dark energy, 25% dark matter, and just 5% normal matter. But this model tells us nothing about the underlying properties of dark matter or dark energy; just that they are components that gravitate without emitting light (dark matter) or cause the expansion of the universe to accelerate (dark energy). Therefore, there must be more to the picture than the standard model, and cosmologists today are on the lookout for discrepancies between datasets and hints of new theories. One intriguing discrepancy is with measurements of the amplitude of the Universe's matter density field. Measurements made with galaxies seem to disagree with measurements made on the early Universe. Dr. Krolewski will discuss how he has combined galaxies and gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background to make another measurement of the amplitude and assess whether this tension persists. Finally, he will talk about the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), an exciting next-generation facility that has just started taking data. Along with Dr. Will Percival and other WCA members, Dr. Krolewski is part of the DESI collaboration, which will bring a wealth of new cosmological information, including powerful new data about the amplitude of the matter field, gravity on very large scales, and the geometry of the universe.
If you have questions about the event or require special accommodation, please email Britteny Blackman at britteny.blackman@uwaterloo.ca.