Witam
"Why continue funding for cosmic topology research?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------- The topology of the Universe (as an observational question) is one of the most fundamental questions of observational cosmology: it concerns the shape of the whole space-time that we live in. The Universe is clearly as important as any object inside the Universe. Knowing the "shape" of atoms, molecules, cells, mountains and continents is one of the basic steps in understanding any of these. At the moment, all that we are confident about regarding the shape of the Universe is a local property: it is "nearly" flat on the horizon scale; we do not know its global properties, such as its topology. Since the ToruĊ cosmology group is one of the most active groups in this field, funding this research topic is clearly a top priority. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Staszek Krawczyk asked me to write why "Topologia Wszechswiata" is an important research topic which is "worth continuing", in 5 sentences, within the next 10 minutes or so (and the 10 minutes are already up). So that's what the above statement is about. (This is related to some funding request. i've wasted enough time in KBN requests with zero positive results, so if someone else is doing the admin/political work, i guess i won't complain...)
Probably any feedback from cosmo-torun subscribers will be too late, but here it is anyway.
pozdr boud