Adrian Melissinos remembered as a pathbreaking particle physicist, mentor
The long-time Rochester physics professor emeritus studied the mysteries surrounding dark matter and other phenomena in particle physics.
Dark matter mysteries unraveled by researchers in underground South Dakota mine
The digital electronics designed, developed, and installed by Rochester researchers are an integral part of the world’s most powerful dark matter detector, now in operation at the Sanford Underground Research Facility.
Instrument to detect dark energy is poised for debut
Members of a University of Rochester cosmology group who are a key part of a multi-institutional effort to create the most detailed 3-D map ever made of the universe are looking forward to the launch of the instrument later this year in Arizona.
The team—Regina Demina, professor of physics; Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, postdoctoral research associate; Segev BenZvi, assistant professor of physics; and Kelly Douglass, visiting assistant professor of physics and astronomy—are working on the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) project, an initiative to provide a more comprehensive look at dark energy and how it’s influencing the expansion of the universe. The instrument—including the 5,000 robotic positioners of the telescope’s focal plane (above)—will capture data from 35 million galaxies, potentially providing insight about the life cycle of galaxies and about the cosmic web that connects matter in the universe.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the lead institution on the project, announced on June 1 that DESI was complete and was moving toward its startup.
In the mystery of positrons, dark matter is leading suspect
Scientists at the HAWC Gamma Ray Observatory have ruled out two pulsars as the source of an unexpectedly large presence of positrons in our corner of the galaxy. Could they come from something more complex and exotic: dark matter?
First Results from Dark Matter Detector Announced
A mile underground in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a new experiment named LUX has proven itself the most sensitive dark matter detector in the world.
Dark Matter Detector Installed Underwater, Underground
An experiment to look for one of nature’s most elusive subatomic particles is underway in a stainless steel tank nearly a mile underground beneath the Black Hills of South Dakota. And among the dozens of scientists involved in the research is physics Professor Frank Wolfs.