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“This paper attempted to provide a theoretical explanation for the origin of this strange form of matter and, if further works vindicates it, we will have a model for most of the matter in the universe.„
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The paper used a string-theory-inspired model to explain the
late-time acceleration of the universe. Since both string theory and
accelerating universe are "hot topics," I believe the
paper caught the attention of the physics community. High citation
often involves more factors than just the quality of the paper, and
I suppose this one appeared at the right time!
Does
it describe a new discovery or a new methodology that's useful to
others?
Yes. This paper and the follow-up work showed that certain
string-inspired models have the potential of explaining both the
dark matter and dark energy—which is a novel and useful idea for
cosmological model building.
Could
you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?
Cosmological observations suggest that nearly 95% of matter in
the universe is "dark" and nearly two-thirds of it is very
exotic and exerts negative pressure. This paper attempted to provide
a theoretical explanation for the origin of this strange form of
matter and, if further works vindicates it, we will have a model for
most of the matter in the universe.
How
did you become involved in this research?
As a theoretical physicist and cosmologist, I was interested in
the developments in string theory and its implications for
cosmology. So this research was very natural and indeed almost
routine for a person with my background and expertise.
Thanu Padmanabhan
Professor & Dean, Core Academic Programmes
Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics
Pune, India
