The Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) is reassessing the areas of physics that were examined by the Physics Survey Committee in its report, Physics Through the 1990s (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1986). One of the eight volumes of the report, Gravitation, Cosmology, and Cosmic-Ray Physics, was the subject of a National Research Council program initiation meeting that I chaired in 1992. At that meeting, the need for reassessments in the areas of cosmology, neutrino astrophysics, and cosmic-ray physics was identified.
The Panel on Cosmology, along with the Committee on Cosmic-Ray Physics and the Panel on Neutrino Astrophysics, is part of this updating effort. Because of the connection to astrophysics and astronomy, the BPA has coordinated with the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA) in the conduct of this study. The panel is chaired by Marc Davis, who also chairs the CAA.
The research briefing format is intended to provide advice to
program managers and policy makers on the opportunities for scientific
advances in a frontier field. The field of cosmology is an exciting
frontier where astronomy, nuclear physics, and particle physics
meet, and where we may be able to discover how the universe came
to be as it is today.
David Schramm
Chair
Board on Physics and Astronomy