Dark Energy & the Accelerating Universe—Lecture by Neelima Sehgal, Associate Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Stony Brook University, cosponsored by the Montauk Observatory: Adults/Teens

Neelima Sehgal, Ph.D.

Program Presenter: Neelima Sehgal, Associate Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Stony Brook University; she joined the faculty in 2012 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University. Her work in observational and theoretical cosmology includes research on dark matter and dark energy, the early Universe, as well as neutrino physics.

The evidence for Dark Energy is overwhelming. In the mid-1970s, astronomical data hinted at the possibility of an additional form of energy in the Universe; if it existed, it was thought that such energy would not only be responsible for accelerating the rate of expansion of our Universe, but also would counteract the pull of gravity. By the late 1990s, the evidence for Dark Energy became overwhelming when astronomers directly measured the accelerated expansion. Since then, the evidence for Dark Energy has been continually growing from corroborating measurements that employ many independent techniques. In this talk, Professor Sehgal will review the evidence for Dark Energy and discuss how its existence raises even deeper questions about our Universe. She will also discuss the latest research findings on Dark Energy and the giant telescopes astronomers use to further understand its nature.

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