National Data Center
NYU Abu Dhabi will be the first location in the UAE to host crucial scientific data collected by space missions that are essential for research in solar and stellar physics.
“Space science cannot proceed forward without high-quality measurements. The data taken by billion-dollar space-based observatories can be used to make important scientific contributions,” said Shravan Hanasoge, co-principal investigator at the NYUAD Center for Space Science. “We hope that the ease of access to this data in the UAE will significantly boost space science research in the region.”
The National Data Center will build relevant capacity for facilitating pre-launch studies associated with the 2020 UAE Mars Mission.
Detecting Dark Matter
NYU Abu Dhabi is participating in an international collaboration to detect dark matter with unprecedented sensitivity. XENON1T, the most sensitive detector on Earth, is located in the largest underground lab in the world for astroparticle physics, about 130 kilometers east of Rome.
NYUAD's research group, led by Francesco Arneodo, associate professor of physics, is responsible for the TPC resistor chain — a key element of the detector — water purification of the 10-meter shield, frontline data analysis, and offline data quality monitoring.
XENON1T has a record low radioactivity level, many orders of magnitude below surrounding material on Earth, and is the largest detector of this type ever built. The combination of significantly increased size with much lower background implies an excellent discovery potential in the years to come.
Virtual Galaxies
NYU Abu Dhabi scientists use the university supercomputer named Dalma to create simulations of space activity that will help them better understand the properties of real galaxies.
“You can’t create a galaxy in a regular lab,” said Andrea Macciò, professor of physics, “because they (galaxies) involve densities, time scales, and temperatures that are far beyond our reach. That’s why we do these on a computer.”
Their goal is to understand the key physics phenomena that drive the evolution of galaxies through cosmic time. The research, led by Macciò and his group at NYUAD, involves more than 20 scientists from around the world.
