Fundamental physics with the Square Kilometre Array
Amanda Weltman, Philip Bull, S. Camera, Katharine Kelley, Hamsa Padmanabhan, Joshua Pritchard, Alvise Raccanelli, Signe Riemer–Sørensen, Lijing Shao, Sambatra Andrianomena, E. Athanassoula, David Bacon, Rennan Barkana, Gianfranco Bertone, Céline Bœhm, Camille Bonvin, A. Bosma, M. Brüggen, C. Burigana, Francesca Calore, José A. R. Cembranos, Chris Clarkson, Riley Connors, Álvaro de la Cruz-Dombriz, Peter K. S. Dunsby, José Fonseca, N. Fornengo, Daniele Gaggero, I. Harrison, Julien Larena, Yin-Zhe Ma, Roy Maartens, Miguel Méndez-Isla, Soumya D. Mohanty, Steven Murray, David Parkinson, Alkistis Pourtsidou, Peter J. Quinn, Marco Regis, Prasenjit Saha, M Sahlén, Mairi Sakellariadou, Joseph Silk, T. Trombetti, F. Vazza, Tejaswi Venumadhav, F. Vidotto, Francisco Villaescusa-Navarro, Y. Wang, Christoph Weniger, Laura Wolz, F. Zhang, B. M. Gaensler
Abstract
Abstract The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a planned large radio interferometer designed to operate over a wide range of frequencies, and with an order of magnitude greater sensitivity and survey speed than any current radio telescope. The SKA will address many important topics in astronomy, ranging from planet formation to distant galaxies. However, in this work, we consider the perspective of the SKA as a facility for studying physics. We review four areas in which the SKA is expected to make major contributions to our understanding of fundamental physics: cosmic dawn and reionisation; gravity and gravitational radiation; cosmology and dark energy; and dark matter and astroparticle physics. These discussions demonstrate that the SKA will be a spectacular physics machine, which will provide many new breakthroughs and novel insights on matter, energy, and spacetime.