News

The Bullet Cluster (Image: ESA)

Galaxy clusters - giants of the universe

Café & Kosmos on 23 April 2024

The Bullet Cluster, one of the most interesting galaxy clusters we know, weighs several hundred thousand billion solar masses. This object alone gives us deep insights into the components of our universe: galaxies, hot gas and dark matter. We use…

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Image: K. Holzapfel, S. Loipolder/TUM

Light in the darkness of the deep sea

Café und Kosmos on 5 March, 2024

Physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are currently developing the new neutrino telescope P-ONE to explore the universe from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the future. At a depth of 2,500 meters, there are also living creatures…

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The LST-1 on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain (Image: CTAO gGmbH)

LST-1 observes radio quasar OP 313 with highest gamma radiation ever measured

The new Cherenkov telescope LST-1 on La Palma announces its first scientific discovery: while observing the radio quasar OP 313, the telescope registered radiation of over 100 gigaelectronvolts - the highest-energy gamma radiation ever measured from…

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Artistic representation of magnetic monopoles (Image: M. Bachmaier/https://deepai.org/)

The early universe: What role do magnetic monopoles play?

Café & Kosmos on 29 February, 2024

The standard model of particle physics consists of particles of matter interacting via three fundamental forces: the strong force that holds atomic nuclei together, the weak force that describes (radioactive) beta decay, and the electromagnetic force…

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Professor Cumrun Vafa (Photo: private)

Humboldt Research Award winner Cumrun Vafa comes to the MPP as a guest

The highly respected theoretical physicist Cumrun Vafa from Harvard University has received one of the prestigious Humboldt Research Awards. Along with this award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation comes an invitation for a stay of up to one…

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 The sun with sunspots (Image: NASA/SDO)

Weather report from space: auroras and power outages

Café & Kosmos on 30 January, 2024

The surface of the sun is like a bubbling cauldron of hot plasma. Sunspots - darker and cooler areas than the rest of the surface - come and go. Huge plasma magnetic field arcs form near them. Occasionally, magnetic short circuits hurl huge streams…

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The new building at the Garching Research Center (Photo: Massimo Fiorito)

Relocation: Max Planck Institute for Physics moves to Garching Research Center

Since November 1, the Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) has had a new address. After 65 years, the institute is saying "goodbye" to its location at the Englischer Garten in Munich and moving to a new building at the Garching Research Center.…

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Olivier Rossel at a meeting of the MADMAX team in Marseille (Photo: O. Rossel)

IntraAxion! Research at the interface of art and experimental physics

MADMAX is an experiment currently being created to find a previously undetected particle. The sought-after axion could answer two central questions in particle physics: What is dark matter made of, and why is the interaction that holds atomic nuclei…

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 Prof. Dr. Johannes Henn and Dr. Babette Döbrich (Photos: A. Griesch/MPP; privat))

Funding in the millions for two projects in particle physics

The Max Planck Institute for Physics is pleased to announce two successful applications to the European Research Council (ERC): 10 million euros will go to the project "UNIVERSE+: Positive Geometry in Particle Physics and Cosmology", coordinated by…

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Our galaxy, the Milky Way (Image: H. Dahle/ESO)

What neutrinos tell us about the Milky Way

Café & Kosmos on 13 November, 2023

For more than 100 years, scientists have puzzled over the source of the high-energy cosmic rays that continuously pelt our Earth's atmosphere. Neutrinos are the only particles in the radiation that allow direct conclusions to be drawn about its…

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