Abstract: The U.S. could move boldly toward accelerating transformational accelerator research for high-energy physics. Profound questions remain to be answered in particle physics; recent discoveries reconfirm the value of continued investments. However, going beyond the present generation of high energy …

Joint Physics and ATAP Divisions Seminar | William Barletta (USPAS/ MIT) & Martin Breidenbach (SLAC) "Accelerator Research in the U.S. for High Energy Physics: A biased perspective" Read More »

Abstract: Sketched out in 1992, selected by ESA in 1996, and launched in 2009, the Planck satellite was shut off in 2013, after a measuring mission that exceeded all expectations. The Planck collaboration delivered a first set of cosmological data …

Francois Bouchett (IAP) "Latest Cosmological News from the Planck Satellite Project" Read More »

Abstract: Earlier this year the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment completed its final dark matter search from 4850 feet below ground in the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. Between September 2014 and May 2016 the LUX detector …

Evan Pease (UCB/Yale) "New results from the 332-live-day exposure of the LUX dark matter experiment" Read More »

ABSTRACT: The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle whose existence would explain the baffling absence of CP violation in the strong interactions. Axions also happen to be a compelling dark-matter candidate. Axions could comprise the overwhelming majority of mass in …

Leslie Rosenberg (Univ. of Washington) "The Axion Dark-Matter Experiment (ADMX)" Read More »

Abstract: The 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics has just concluded in Chicago, US. New results from various areas of high-energy particle physics, as well as neutrino physics, cosmology and theory were presented in front of about 1400 attendees. …

Simone Pagan Griso (LBNL) "Highlights from ICHEP on the LHC Results" Read More »

Abstract: I'll briefly review the arguments for and status of particle dark matter searches and then focus on the possibility of looking for a definitive galactic signature.  There have been several hints for WIMP dark matter over the years, most …

Neil Spooner (Univ. of Sheffield) " Galactic Signatures and Directional Detection of Particle Dark Matter – the CYGNUS Project and Probing below the Neutrino Floor” Read More »

Abstract: KamLAND is a one-kiloton liquid scintillator-based neutrino detector and is one of the recipients of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for its 2002 investigation of neutrino oscillations. KamLAND-Zen is the current phase of KamLAND, and it is …

Brian Fujikawa (LBNL) "New Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Results from KamLAND-Zen" Read More »

ABSTRACT: Wojtak, Hansen and Hjorth and others have measured the long-predicted gravitational redshift of light escaping from galaxy clusters using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data. The effect is very small, corresponding to a velocity shift of only ~10 km/s in …

Nick Kaiser (Hawaii) "The Physics of Gravitational Redshifts in Clusters of Galaxies" Read More »

Abstract: Much of the exploration of the high-redshift Universe has focussed on first finding sites of ongoing star formation. This can then lead to pointed follow-up of how much cold (molecular) gas there is that feeds this star formation. ALMA …

Hans Walter Rix (Max Planck) "Fuel Exploration in the Early Universe: The ALMA Spectroscopic Survey of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field" Read More »

ABSTRACT: Supernovae remain a central part of dark energy science, complementing the programs with BAO and weak lensing.  The LBNL group is active with the nearby supernova search with the SN factory, a role in the intermediate-redshift DES supernova program, …

Greg Aldering, Bob Cahn, Alex Kim, and Saul Perlmutter (LBNL) "Type Ia Supernova Program at LBNL: Status and Plans" Read More »