Dark Matter

Symmetry: Virtual Field Trips Take Students into the Labs

Teachers are using Google+ to bring their classes behind the scenes at national laboratories and to teach students about careers in STEM.

The Seven Biggest Questions in Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology

SLAC's Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) recently hosted many of the top scientists in the field to discuss the most important questions to confront in the coming decade.

Mock Data, Real Science

In scientific circles, “mock” is not always a four-letter word. To test that they’re interpreting their massive amounts of data correctly, astrophysicists create even more data: “mock” data. And while that may be counterintuitive at first, it actually makes a surprising amount of sense.

The Universe Through Fermi's Eyes

On June 11, 2008, what was then the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope rode a Delta II rocket into low-Earth orbit. After two months of tests and checks and calibrations, on August 11, 2008, NASA declared GLAST open for business as astrophysics' premier eye on the gamma-ray sky. Five years, a name change, a near miss with a defunct Soviet spy satellite, and countless surprises later, the spacecraft now known as the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is still going strong, with another five-year mission stretching ahead of it.

KIPAC Theorists Weigh In on Where to Hunt Dark Matter

Now that it looks like the hunt for the Higgs boson is over, particles of dark matter are at the top of the physics "Most Wanted" list. Dozens of experiments have been searching for them, but often come up with contradictory results.

Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Adds New Intrigue with Latest Result

Physicists operating an experiment located half a mile underground in Minnesota reported this weekend that they have found possible hints of dark-matter particles.

Panofsky Prize Honors Researchers' Underground Hunt for Dark Matter

The search for dark matter runs deep with physicists Blas Cabrera and Bernard Sadoulet, who have chased this mystery far underground and will be recognized for their work as joint recipients of the 2013 W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics. The prize is named for SLAC's founding director, Wolfgang "Pief" Panofsky, and awarded by the American Physical Society.

World's Largest Digital Camera Project Passes Critical Milestone

Menlo Park, Calif. — A 3.2 billion-pixel digital camera designed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is now one step closer to reality. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope camera, which will capture the widest, fastest and deepest view of the night sky ever observed, has received “Critical Decision 1” approval by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to move into the next stage of the project.

Dark Matter

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