Inflation is now the paradigmatic theory of the Big Bang. But is it deserved? I will describe the conceptual and theoretical challenges that Inflation is still facing, argue that we should keep an open mind. In particular, I will argue that while it is a theory that claims to be a theory of initial conditions of the Universe, successful inflation actually depends on an intimate interplay between its own initial conditions and the inflationary model. I will show how one might go about probing this interplay by testing whether inflation can begin if its own initial conditions are not homogenous. ----- Follow the usual link or contact the organisers (Antoine Bourget and Edoardo Vescovi). Student introduction at 13:00.

I will describe how this number comes from quantum fluctuations during the earliest moments of the Big Bang to become the large scale structure of cosmology that we see today in the skies.