Abstract:
The knowledge of the Universe as a whole, its origin, size and shape, its
evolution and future, have always intrigued the human mind. Einstein said:
"The fact that we can understand the Universe is a wonder." In this
seminar, after briefly presenting the historical development, we will
address some of the remaining mysteries in our comprehension of the
cosmos. Main issue will be the nowadays hot question: What drives the
acceleration of the Universe expansion? Dark energy, of course, but what
is it? Beautiful mathematics, involving the zeta function of
pseudodifferential operators, are key in answering those questions,
crucial to understand (or, better, describe, or mathematically modellize)
the Universe we live in.