Anthony Aguirre has a diverse set of research interests, covering (i) early-universe cosmology, with special emphasis on cosmological inflation and eternal inflation, (ii) heavy element enrichment of the intergalactic medium, and (iii) dark matter in the first (Population III) stars.
Prof Jeltema studies clusters of galaxies, including cosmological constraints with clusters and studies of the intracluster medium. She co-chairs the Cluster Science Working Group for the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and is a member of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration. She also works on understanding the particle nature of dark matter with observations of galaxies and clusters ranging from radio to X-ray to gamma-ray wavelengths.
Prof Leauthaud focuses on probing distributions of dark matter via gravitational lensing. She is currently working with data from the Hyper Suprime Cam Survey. She serves as the co-chair for the DESI C3 (Clustering, Clusters, and Cross-Correlations) working group and is a member of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration. She is excited to soon be cross-correlating new DESI data with everything else to maximize the return for dark energy science.
Piero Madau’s research addresses key events in the early evolution of the universe, including the dawn of galaxies, the formation of the first stars and black holes, and the reionization and chemical enrichment of the intergalactic medium. In recent years, his team has carried out some of the most successful computer simulations of the assembly of Milky Way-like galaxies.
Joel Primack specializes in the formation and evolution of galaxies and the nature of the dark matter that makes up most of the matter in the universe. Primack also is director of the University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center, and he organized the first UC-HIPACC International School on AstroComputing at UCSC, the annual UCSC Galaxy Workshop, and the UC-HIPACC conference on The Future of AstroComputing at the San Diego Supercomputing Center.
Prof Profumo seeks to unveil the particle nature of the dark matter, and the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. A particle physics theorist, Profumo works at the interface of elementary particle physics, cosmology, and astro-particle physics.
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz is the Director of the Theoretical Astrophysics in Santa Cruz (TASC) multi-departmental Center, and his research focuses on the violent universe with an emphasis on stellar explosions, gamma-ray bursts, and accretion phenomena near compact objects; Ramirez-Ruiz’s current goal is to combine high quality numerical simulations with analytical techniques in order to address basic questions in high energy astrophysics.