Research: overview
I am an astroparticle physicist, working at the interface between astrophysics and particle physics. In recent years there has been remarkable progress in measuring the present-day properties of the Universe. But there are still important questions to be answered.
Understanding the nature of dark matter is one of the major unsolved problems in astronomy and particle physics. A range of diverse astronomical and cosmological observations appear to indicate that most of the matter in the Universe is not only dark but also non-baryonic. Particle physics provides us with several well-motivated dark matter candidates, and numerous experimental searches are underway.
Particle physics and astrophysics also intersect in the early Universe. Particle physics beyond the standard model is required to build models of the Universe, which explain its observed isotropy and (near)flatness and produce the small seed fluctuations from which structure forms. These models are then tested using astrophysical and cosmological data. The high energies involved make the early Universe a powerful probe of high-energy physics, complementary to particle colliders.
Here is a selection of my papers from the past decade, which is fairly representative of the projects I work on.