Speaker: Luke Hart
Title: Reading between the lines: the hidden secrets of recombination
Abstract: Cosmological recombination has been widely regarded a solid pillar of understanding the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and its anisotropies. For many years, the questions have been answered over the accuracy of these calculations due to exceptional codes as CosmoRec and HyRec as well as numerous publications on the intricate atomic processes. However, the era that dawned the formation of hydrogen and helium atoms has still given us brilliant insights into numerous exotic physics models as well as tribalistic disputes in the various pockets of modern cosmology. In this talk, we will briefly recap the physics of recombination before highlighting extensions to the standard model (parametric and non-parametric) that affect the surface of last scattering. Finally, we will look to the future probes that provide a direct, spectral handprint of the atomic transitions in hydrogen and helium: the recombination radiation. Here we will conclude with the feasibility of studying these lines with prospective missions such as SuperPIXIE, Voyage 2050 and what happens when the non-standard modifications that we see in the CMB anisotropies are propagated through to the SEDs from recombination.
