Particle astrophysics is a research area at the interface of particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology that investigates fundamental particles and their interactions using astrophysical sources and environments. It focuses on high-energy messengers such as cosmic rays, gamma rays, neutrinos, and, increasingly, gravitational waves to probe processes in extreme settings like supernovae, active galactic nuclei, compact object mergers, and the early universe. The field seeks to constrain particle properties, test physics beyond the Standard Model, study dark matter and dark energy candidates, and elucidate acceleration and propagation mechanisms through multi-messenger observations and advanced detection techniques.
Detecting dark matter particles and understanding their underlying physics is a long-standing research goal for many researchers worldwide. Dark matter searches have been aimed at detecting different possible signals that ...
Our home planet is bombarded with particles from outer space all the time. And while we are mostly familiar with the rocky meteorites originating from within our solar system that create fascinating shooting stars in the ...
Astronomy
Jan 29, 2025
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Scientists have come a step closer to understanding how collisionless shock waves—found throughout the universe—are able to accelerate particles to extreme speeds.
Plasma Physics
Jan 13, 2025
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The LUX ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter experiment is a large research effort involving over 200 scientists and engineers at 40 institutions worldwide. Its key objective is to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) ...
More than a decade ago, dark matter experts Daniel Akerib and Thomas Shutt joined the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, continuing their mission to uncover the elusive substance. SLAC recently caught ...
General Physics
Dec 18, 2024
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Underneath a granite hill in southern China, a massive detector is nearly complete that will sniff out the mysterious ghost particles lurking around us.
General Physics
Dec 18, 2024
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Ultra-high energy cosmic rays, which emerge in extreme astrophysical environments—like the roiling environments near black holes and neutron stars—have far more energy than the energetic particles that emerge from our sun. ...
Astronomy
Dec 10, 2024
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An interdisciplinary collaboration between condensed-matter, quantum-optics and particle physicists has the potential to crack the search for low-mass dark matter. The proposed quantum detector builds on EQUS studies of elementary ...
General Physics
Dec 6, 2024
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130
Dark matter made out of axions may have the power to make space-time ring like a bell, but only if it is able to steal energy from black holes, according to new research.
Astronomy
Nov 25, 2024
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In an underground lab in a mountainous region of Italy that contains the coldest temperatures known to exist in the universe, teams of international scientists are to trying to solve one of the biggest mysteries in particle ...
General Physics
Nov 22, 2024
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