SLAC topics

Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology (PAC) RSS feed

To explore the birth of the universe, star and galaxy formation and the structure of space and time, SLAC researchers help develop cutting-edge technologies for a range of sensitive experiments.

Speed of hydrogen gas in a rotating galaxy.

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An international collaboration aims to create a 3D map of the universe, unraveling the mysterious nature of dark energy.

Photo of a small section of the DESI focal plane
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Rebecca Leane and colleagues showed dark matter could heat planets in our galaxy to incredible temperatures. Here, she explains how that works and how...

Portrait of Rebecca Leane
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SLAC cosmologists are using multiple images of the same quasars, produced by massive galaxies’ gravitational pull, to calibrate cosmic distances. Their work may help...

Light from a distant quasar bends around a galaxy, creating four images of the quasar.
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Daniel Ratner, head of SLAC’s machine learning initiative, explains the lab’s unique opportunities to advance scientific discovery through machine learning.

Physicist Daniel Ratner.

Blandford’s major contributions range from energetic jets ripping forth from colossal black holes to cosmic “magnifying” glasses to gravitational waves.

Roger Blandford
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Matching up maps of matter and light from the Dark Energy Survey and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope may help astrophysicists understand what causes a...

DES-Fermi
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VIA Symmetry Magazine

Vera Rubin, giant of astronomy

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will be named for an influential astronomer who left the field better than she found it.

Vera Rubin
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His work aims to deepen our understanding of dark matter, dark energy and other secrets of the universe.

Photo of Panofsky fellow Daniel Gruen
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The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument begins final testing, setting the stage for a 5-year survey that will analyze the light of 35 million galaxies.

DESI ‘eyes’
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Early-career physicist Jonathan LeyVa helps build one of the world’s most sensitive dark matter detectors.

Jonathan LeyVa/SuperCDMS
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An “out there” theory inspired the development of the Dark Matter Radio, a device that could explain the mysterious matter that makes up 85...

Dark Matter Radio
News Feature

A SLAC/Stanford study of the population of satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way provides new clues about the particle nature of dark matter.

Dark matter simulation