News

Photomultipliers are installed in the COSINUS experiment to filter out unwanted background noise caused by cosmic rays (Photo: Astrid Eckert/MPP)

Dark matter: testing a controversial signal

Café & Kosmos on June 18, 2024

There are around 20 experiments worldwide searching for the mysterious dark matter. So far, none has been able to detect the substance - with one exception: the DAMA/LIBRA experiment has been claiming to measure a signal since 1998. However, no other…

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View of the Perseus cluster of galaxies (Image: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi)

Structure on large scales and the history of the universe

Café & Kosmos on 14 May, 2024

The large-scale distribution of galaxies contains important information about the initial conditions in the early universe and how the cosmos has evolved since then. In particular, they help to unravel the nature of the dark energy that is…

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In the clean room: Karoline Schäffner and her team complete their work on the cryostat (Photo: COSINUS Collaboration)

New experiment tests controversial dark matter signals

Today, on April 18, 2024, a large-scale experiment to detect dark matter will be inaugurated in Italy. COSINUS is an international research project in which a team from the Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) is also involved. The nature of dark…

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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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