Astrophysics explores final frontier

A university astrophysicist has received funding of £433,134 from the Leverhulme Trust to establish an Institute for Particle Astrophysics (IPA), dedicated to a focused interdisciplinary effort to resolve the questions posed by the presence of `dark matter' in space. The grant will be used to support postdoctoral researchers who will help in the development of a programme of interdisciplinary research. The nature of dark matter presents one of the greatest puzzles in modern physics. Astronomers have amassed evidence that more than 90 per cent of the mass in the universe is `dark', consisting of hitherto undiscovered particles and conventional baryonic matter that are possible remnants of the `Big Bang'. It is believed that dark matter predominates in galaxies and supergalaxies, and is the key to understanding how galaxies form and how the large structure of the cosmos is created. The Institute will launch a sustained study of the actual nature of dark matter, investigating whether it is made up of weakly interacting elementary particles that are relics of super symmetry, a theory of elementary particles that is universally believed by physicists to have prevailed at the very high energies characteristic of the first nanoseconds of the Big Bang. A complementary view is that some of the dark matter consists of massive compact objects such as primordial black holes, whose discovery would unleash dramatic new insights into the nature of the early universe. Were such black holes to be discovered, it could be inferred that the very early universe was a far more chaotic and violent environment than currently believed. The Institute will also operate in conjunction with various projects currently being undertaken into the nature of dark matter at the Department of Physics, including investigations into cosmic microwave background, and involvement in the ANTARES project, an underwater observatory which monitors the passage of neutrinos—particles believed to be generated by dark matter particle interactions in the halo of our galaxy during the most energetic and violent processes in the Universe—as they strike the surface of the earth and pass into the oceans. Theoretical research, which is the primary aim of the Leverhulme grant, will be further supported by a recent successful bid to the JREI fund, which will facilitate the purchase of a BEOWULF supercomputer, capable of speeds 128 times faster than those of ordinary computers, in an international collaborative effort to develop an improved model of galaxy and star formation. Professor Joseph Silk, Savilian Professor of Astronomy, who will lead the Institute, said: `Unravelling the mystery of the dark matter promises to provide a new paradigm for astrophysics. Our interdisciplinary studies at the interface of astronomy and particle astrophysics will help provide Oxford with a leadership role in a rapidly emerging field that is exploring and probing the frontier of our current knowledge of the universe.'