Browse Physics

Theories of dark matter interacting with a light force carrier, proposed to explain the excess of high-energy positrons in the cosmic rays, turn out to have problems.

New simulations of merging binary neutron stars include details of the gravitational wave signature that should in coming years help us understand another mysterious process—short gamma-ray bursts.

Ab initio simulations account for the peculiar abundance characteristics of noble gases in Jupiter

A model in which the dark matter relic density was inherited from the lepton asymmetry in the early universe can result in lepton-favoring dark matter annihilations today, which may explain recent anomalous cosmic-ray positron observations.

New measurements with the Fermi Large Area Telescope extend our knowledge of the extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray background and may help resolve the question of its origins.

Cascades created by cosmic rays interacting with the atmosphere provide clues about the mass composition of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays.

New data are inconsistent with previous measurements that showed an unexpected excess of diffuse gamma-ray emission in the Galaxy.

The insights of a provocative connection between general relativity and quantum field theory, called the AdS/CFT correspondence, have been extended to rotating black holes that can occur astrophysically.

Simulations support the prediction that when nuclei are squeezed to high densities in the core of a supernova, they merge into exotic shapes such as rods and slabs.

The Moon might be stranger than we think.

Advances in experimental techniques that measure nuclear reactions that occur in stars are opening new opportunities for understanding the stellar and chemical evolution of our Universe.

Neutrinos arriving from a nearby supernova could be used to determine the precise moment when gravitational waves should appear, which may help researchers pick out the so-far-undetectable waves.

New connections have been made between experimental astrophysical signatures and theories that unify the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces, called grand unified theories.

Detectors buried beneath the Antarctic ice place stringent limits on the presence of dark matter particles, called neutralinos, in the sun.

New results from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, the most precise to date in the energy range $20\text{GeV}$ to $1\text{TeV}$, should help resolve whether cosmic rays composed of the lightest charged particles, i.e., electrons and positrons, come from dark matter or some other astrophysical source.

Many cosmologists believe that antiprotons in cosmic rays come from the annihilation of dark matter. Data from the PAMELA experiment on board a Russian satellite provide an important test of this possibility.

New upper limits on the spin-independent interaction of WIMPs and nucleons marks the latest volley in the worldwide effort to detect and identify particle dark matter.

New satellite measurements may help solve the puzzle of how the sun’s energy heats the corona and solar wind.

Unusual localized excess fluxes of cosmic rays of unknown origin have been observed at an energy of 10 TeV. Several explanations are being considered, but none are convincing.

Computer simulations reveal a new type of wave structure that may appear in the banded flows of giant planets, or even Earth’s oceans.