Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Colloquium

Any non-PPPL people interested in attending should see this site for more information: http://www.pppl.gov/about/visiting-pppl . ABSTRACT: Was the event that occurred 13.7 billion years ago a big bang – the beginning of space and time – or a big bang bounce – a transition from contraction to expansion? This talk will explain how the two possibilities lead to very different pictures of the origin, evolution and future of the universe and how recent and near future observations may resolve which picture is correct.