Cosmology Content

Ghostly ‘Mirror World’ Might Be Behind Cosmic Controversy

Andy Fell — April 15, 2022 - 10:57am

An unseen ‘mirror world’ of particles that interact with our world only via gravity might be the key to solving a major puzzle in cosmology today – the Hubble constant problem.

Taking the Temperature of Dark Matter

Andy Fell — January 15, 2020 - 9:24am

Warm, cold, just right? Physicists at the University of California, Davis, are taking the temperature of dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about a quarter of our universe.

We have very little idea of what dark matter is, and physicists have yet to detect a dark matter particle. But we do know that the gravity of clumps of dark matter can distort light from distant objects. Chris Fassnacht, a physics professor at 51�ԹϺ�� Davis, and colleagues are using this distortion, called gravitational lensing, to learn more about the properties of dark matter.

New Measurement of Hubble Constant Adds to Cosmic Mystery

Andy Fell — October 23, 2019 - 10:15am

New measurements of the rate of expansion of the universe, led by astronomers at the University of California, Davis, add to a growing mystery: Estimates of a fundamental constant made with different methods keep giving different results.

“There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of mystification and from my point of view it’s a lot of fun,” said Chris Fassnacht, professor of physics at 51�ԹϺ�� Davis and a member of the international SHARP/H0LICOW collaboration, which made the measurement using the W.M. Keck telescopes in Hawaii.

Campus Remembers Stephen Hawking

Andy Fell — March 14, 2018 - 12:05pm

Stephen Hawking, who died early today (March 14) at his home in Cambridge, England, visited 51�ԹϺ�� Davis in 2003 for the Davis Meeting on Cosmic Inflation.

Organized by faculty in the cosmology group of the Department of Physics, the meeting drew many other leading experts in cosmology and theoretical physics.

As well as attending and speaking at the meeting, Hawking gave two public lectures at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and attended a lunch for local schoolteachers hosted by Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef.

Doing Without Dark Energy

Andy Fell — December 13, 2017 - 3:38pm

Three mathematicians have a different explanation for the accelerating expansion of the universe that does without theories of “dark energy.” Einstein’s original equations for General Relativity actually predict cosmic acceleration due to an “instability,” they argue in paper published recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

Long Ago and Far Away, an Average Galaxy

Andy Fell — April 10, 2017 - 8:00am

Astronomers led by a graduate student at the University of California, Davis have discovered one of the most distant galaxies in the universe, and it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

Astronomers Measure Universe Expansion, Get Hints of ‘New Physics’

Andy Fell — January 26, 2017 - 5:01pm

Astronomers have just made a new measurement of the Hubble constant, the rate at which the universe is expanding, and it doesn’t quite line up with a different estimate of the same number. That discrepancy could hint at “new physics” beyond the standard model of cosmology, according to the team, which includes physicists from the University of California, Davis, that made the observation.

Four From 51�ԹϺ�� Davis Elected To American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Andy Fell — April 20, 2016 - 12:50pm

Four faculty members from the University of California, Davis have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. They are among 213 scientists, artists, writers and leaders in business, politics and philanthropy to be selected this year.

The new members from 51�ԹϺ�� Davis are: Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph Hexter; Andreas Albrecht, distinguished professor and chair of the physics department; Professor Christopher Reynolds, department of music; and David Simpson, distinguished professor of English.