Lunch talk on May. 11, 2026

Testing the Standard Model of Cosmology with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Speaker: Cristhian Garcia-Quintero (Harvard University)

Venue: Video Conference

Time: 11:00 AM, Monday, May. 11, 2026

Abstract: 

Measuring redshifts of distant galaxies through spectroscopy allow us to map the distribution of matter in the Universe, opening a window for testing the accelerated expansion of the Universe as well as properties of cosmological species such as neutrinos, and even possible departures from General Relativity. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), the state-of-the-art galaxy redshift survey, has recently completed its nominal five-year observing program. In this talk, I will briefly review the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements from DESI Data Release 2, based on more than 14 million galaxies within a dataset containing roughly 30 million redshifts. I will discuss the current status of evidence for evolving dark energy and constraints on neutrino masses in light of recent Type Ia supernova reanalyses and the latest cosmic microwave background datasets. Finally, the talk will also summarize expectations for future DESI analyses such as the so-called full-shape analysis and the next generation of BAO measurements.