WARP initiative launches in Warsaw to address cosmological anomalies

The Warsaw AstRo-Physics (WARP) initiative has held its inaugural meeting at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Physics. The new collaborative project aims to integrate researchers from various Warsaw-based institutes specializing in particle astrophysics, astronomy, cosmology, and related fields to facilitate knowledge exchange.

The first meeting focused on current anomalies in the standard cosmological model, specifically the ‘Hubble tension’—the discrepancy between different methods of measuring the expansion rate of the universe. The event featured a keynote lecture by Dr. Eleonora Di Valentino from the University of Sheffield, a leading expert in observational cosmology and co-leader of the international CosmoVerse initiative.

Following the lecture, experts participated in a debate titled ‘Navigating Cosmological Tensions – Crisis or New Physics?’, discussing whether observed data discrepancies necessitate a move beyond the standard ΛCDM model or stem from unknown systematic effects. The initiative is led by Dr. hab. Sebastian Trojanowski and involves researchers from institutions such as the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) and the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).