Our Research

SLAC's Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology Division plays leading roles in the study of the high-energy universe, where cosmology and particle physics – the study of the very big and the very small – meet. In this approach to discovery, known as the Cosmic Frontier, the universe itself is their laboratory. Two of the biggest puzzles in this realm are the nature of the dark matter and dark energy that make up 95 percent of the universe. SLAC is pursuing these and other questions with telescopes on the ground and in space and a detector deep underground.

Our research is led by the joint SLAC-Stanford Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. KIPAC serves as a bridge between the disciplines of astrophysics, cosmology and particle physics, with special emphasis on cosmic structure, dark energy, dark matter, the early universe, compact objects and natural particle accelerators. Its mission is to bring the resources of modern computational, experimental, observational and theoretical science to bear on our understanding of the universe at large.

Our current major astrophysics and cosmology projects include: