Fundamental Physics and Cosmology in the Extremely Large Telescopes Era

Abstract

The observational evidence for the recent acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete (or possibly incorrect) and that new physics is out there, waiting to be discovered. A crucial task for the next generation of astrophysical facilities is to search for, identify and ultimately characterise this new physics. I outline the theoretical arguments pointing to this new physics, and then discuss some unique contributions of the ELTs towards this endeavour, including tests of the stability of nature's fundamental couplings, tests of the behaviour of gravity in the strong-field regime, and mapping the expansion history of the universe in the deep matter era, by both direct and indirect means. I also briefly highlight how the ELTs can optimally complement other planned ground and space facilities, and stress the requirements that these searches impose on the instruments currently being built or developed.