Title: Cosmology with Cosmic Microwave Background Fluctuations

Speaker: Usos Seljak (CfA)

Abstract: Cosmic Microwave Background Fluctuations provide a snapshot
of the universe at early times. The universe then was much simpler
than it is today, which allows one to make accurate theoretical predictions
and compare them with observations. I will discuss the physics of CMB
fluctuations and polarization and show how can these be used to determine
several cosmological parameters with unprecedented accuracy. I will also
compare two leading paradigms of structure formation, inflation and
topological defects, and show that they lead to very different predictions
which can easily be distinguished with present and future observations.