Cosmological Implications of Weyl-Invariant Gravity

The standard cosmological model, which is firmly based on General Relativity (GR), has been very successful in parametrically fitting diverse combinations of observational datasets. This success rests on the stipulated existence of dark matter (DM) and dark energy, both of which remain elusive. In addition, the model heralds the breakdown of our basic concepts of space and time at the initial Big Bang singularity.

In this talk I will argue that extending the symmetry of GR to accommodate Weyl-invariance (WI), i.e. allowing for our fundamental measure sticks, such as the Planck length, to vary in space and time could potentially obviate the need for clustering DM on all scales, avoid the initial singularity problem with a bouncing model of the Universe, and resolve several other puzzles afflicting the standard cosmological model. 

Note: Meir is a candidate for the department