Cosmology News

On 8 July, the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik (MPA) honoure two outstanding early-career researchers, Teresa Braun and Aniket Bhagwat, with the Kippenhahn Prize for groundbreaking papers that have significantly advanced our understanding of the Sun and the early universe. The prize, which was established to promote excellence in scientific writing and original thinking, recognizes not only the depth of their discoveries but also the clarity and rigor of their presentation.
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Although dark matter makes up most of the matter in the universe, what it is made of remains one of the biggest open questions in physics. One indirect clue to its particle nature is how clumpy it is on small scales, such as in dwarf galaxies and smaller. The smallest of these clumps are associated with few or no stars and cannot be seen directly; however, their gravity can perturb stellar streams, thin trails of stars that act as sensitive probes. MPA scientists have now demonstrated that analysing both the location and the movement of stellar stream's stars can pinpoint the scale at which dark matter stops clumping several times more precisely, achieving a level of sensitivity comparable to the most advanced methods currently available. more

Today, the European Research Council (ERC) announced that two researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics will receive an Advanced Grant to pursue ambitious projects. MPA director Eiichiro Komatsu will investigate New Physics from the Polarized Light of the Cosmic Microwave Background (NewPhysCMB), while Sherry Suyu, who is also a professor at the Technical University Munich, will be constraining the Hubble constant, Supernova Ia progenitors, and emissions of tidally disrupted stars near black holes (LENS-ON-FIRE). In total, 319 leading researchers across Europe were selected to receive funding worth €838 million in the framework of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. more

Today, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) - which recently completed the largest survey ever taken of the early universe – has released all of its immense, information-rich database to the public. Built from more than half a petabyte of raw and processed data, it will allow astronomers to study how the first galaxies formed and evolved, measure how gas and stars were distributed within these galaxies, map the large-scale structure of the cosmos, and investigate rare and unexpected objects not easily found in traditional surveys. more

by Prof. Benjamin D. Wandelt, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University  more