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As part of the dark matter Insight, Joshua Frieman, co-founder and director of the Dark Energy Survey collaboration, tells us about the ambitious project aiming to probe the origin of cosmic acceleration.
We think dark matter exists because measurements of ‘normal’ matter would not otherwise make sense. In this Insight on dark matter — offered jointly by Nature Astronomy and Nature Physics — we showcase the various techniques trying to make sense of it.
A phenomenon recently studied in theoretical physics may hold considerable interest for astronomers: the explosive decay of primordial black holes through quantum tunnelling. Their detection would be of major theoretical importance.
Black holes present a profound challenge to our current foundations of physics, and an exciting era of astronomy is just opening in which gravitational-wave observation and very-long-baseline interferometry may provide important hints about the new principles of physics needed.
From near-Earth asteroids to superluminous supernovae and gravitational wave counterparts, the Zwicky Transient Facility will soon scan for transient phenomena, explain Eric Bellm and Shrinivas Kulkarni.
Millimetre-wavelength interferometry and gravitational-wave detectors currently provide the most stringent tests for the existence of cosmic black holes. Complementary measurements of magnetic fields near their event horizon would be decisive.
Using a radio telescope with no moving parts, the dark energy speeding up the expansion of the Universe can be probed in unprecedented detail, says Keith Vanderlinde, on behalf of the CHIME collaboration.
As scientists, the terminology we choose influences our thinking as it carries our messages to colleagues and the public. In the face of pressure to turn science into clickbait, maintaining precision in the language we use is critical to dispel misinformation and, more broadly, to enable scientific progress.
Exoplanetary science warns us against the use of improper terminology, which increases the risk of new discoveries being misinterpreted by researchers as well as the general public. Both the scientific community and journal editors can help to avoid this significant danger.
We have found many Earth-sized worlds but we have no way of determining if their surfaces are Earth-like. This makes it impossible to quantitatively compare habitability, and pretending we can risks damaging the field.
