Professor Alexander and his group have been working to develop inflationary models of the early universe in the context of quantum gravity and physics beyond the standard model. Alexander has co-pioneered the first non-perturvative string theoretic model of inflation as well as an inflationary model of baryogenesis from chiral gravitational waves. These models have the potential for observational predictions and Alexander’s group is actively working on these models.
INFLATIONARY AND PREHEATING OBSERVABLES
Professor Fan has been developing new classes of cosmological models during the inflationary and preheating eras with novel signatures and potentially interesting connections to particle physics such as Higgs physics.
Professor Tucker studies the CMB, light “left over” from the Big Bang, provides a window on the early Universe. CMB-S4, the next generation ground-based CMB experiment, will test inflation, determine the number and relative masses of the neutrinos, constrain possible new light relic particles, provide constraints on the nature of dark energy, and test general relativity on large scales.
DARK MATTER/DARK ENERGY MODELS
Professor Alexander and his group work on a wide variety of problems in dark sector cosmology. The group approaches the problems of dark matter and dark energy from a range of computational and analytical perspectives, including machine learning, modified theories of gravity and theories beyond the standard model.
Professor Pober works with low-frequency radio interferometers seeking to detect 21 cm hydrogen line emission from the Epoch of Reionization, the period of cosmic history when the first stars and galaxies filled the Universe with ionizing radiation. His research focuses on the development of analysis techniques to push the performance of these experiments to unprecedented levels of precision in search of the hydrogen signal.
Professor Tucker‘s research involves intensity mapping of neutral hydrogen, which emits at wavelength of 21 cm, provides a method to rapidly map the large scale structure of large volumes of the Universe. These measurements will constrain the late time expansion history of the Universe, thus probing, for example, dark energy.
Professor Dell’Antonio‘s research group studies the gravitational lensing signal from galaxy clusters to uncover clues about the nature of dark matter and its relation to the baryonic components of the clusters. The group is using data from the largest cameras on Earth and in space to map out the evolution of clusters over the last 8 billion years to learn about the effects and nature of dark energy.
Professor Tucker studies Hot Jupiters, which provide an ideal laboratory for understanding atmospheric dynamics, The Exoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE) will measure spectroscopic phase curves of short-period extrasolar giant planets over their full orbits. These spectral measurements probe varying depths in exoplanet atmospheres thus contributing to our understanding of general circulation models, which will provide key insights into atmospheric physics and chemistry.
PARTICLE DARK MATTER DETECTION
The Gaitskell group is focused on the direct detection of particle dark matter. The group also performs R&D on detectors for rare event search experiments with ultra-low radioactivity using novel photodetectors. Currently, the Particle Astrophysics group is an active member in the LUX ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter search experiment, an 8-tonne liquid xenon detector located a mile underground.
Professor Koushiappas works on problems in particle astrophysics and cosmology, such as the nature of dark matter, the non-linear distribution of dark matter in the local universe, dark matter signatures on the small and large scale structure of the universe, cosmological systematics in searches for dark matter, as well as gravitational waves and other cosmological problems.
DARK MATTER MODELS AND SIGNATURES
Professor Fan has been proposing and investigating novel dark matter models with highly non-trivial types of dynamics. Her group also applies data from different experimental frontiers such as direct detection, indirect detection and gravitational probes to map out allowed parameter space of proposed theories and to perceive unexplored regions.
DARK MATTER COLLIDER SIGNATURES
Professor Fan has worked on signatures of new physics models beyond the Standard Model, which contains dark matter candidates, at the Large Hadron Collider and possible future colliders.