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Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics

Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics

The newly established Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics is an alliance of faculty and scholars dedicated to research in astronomy, astrophysics, planetary and astroparticle physics. For the next half decade, this alliance will work to provide answers to fundamental questions about the composition and evolution of our Universe. The Center seeks to tackle these questions from several points of view by combining state-of-the-art observational data from the ground and space on the nature of visible and invisible matter, with detailed theoretical and numerical modeling from planets to galaxies, and linking them together cohesively.

Researcher Clusters

The Center has four interconnected, interdisciplinary research clusters:  

Clusters encompass a range of topics, from elementary particles to planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole. These groups overlap in their science goals, in the methodology used, and in taking advantage of sharing state-of-the-art experimental and observational data.    

Above: Mock observation in the UV (Galex) and IR (Spitzer) filters of a NIHAO galaxy. Below: IFU mock observation of the HI gas in the same galaxy.

  • Astroparticle

    The aim of this Cluster is to apply the most recent detection, computational, and theoretical tools to open problems in the astrophysics and particle physics sectors. Current research topics include dark matter search, both direct and indirect, cosmic rays, solar neutrinos, neutrino astronomy and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs).  The Cluster hopes to shed light on astrophysical questions and at the same time help understand the properties of known and unknown particles and their production processes in astrophysical objects.

    Upcoming Event

    About 
    The NYUAD Astronomy Camp is a four-day long program that aims at promoting the topic of astronomy. Interested UAE high school students who enroll will receive a free crash course covering different astronomical topics, delivered by professional astronomers. Spots are limited so sign up today!

    Topics 
    Basic topics are below. A full schedule of the program will be provided upon registering for the camp. 

    1. The History of Astronomy
    2. Knowing the Heavens 
    3. The Moon
    4. Moon Exploration
    5. The Solar System
    6. Exoplanets
    7. The Birth and Death of Stars (Part I)
    8. The Birth and Death of Stars (Part II)
    9. The Milky Way
    10. Galaxies
    11. Cosmology

    Sign up by clicking the image above or email nyuad.cap3.info@nyu.edu.

Research Spotlights

NYUAD student team wins an Award of Excellence from the Worldwide Logo Design competition for visual identity of new Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics (CAP3)

An NYUAD student group was awarded an Award of Excellence from the Worldwide Logo Design Award (WOLDA) for exemplary design and concept in the New Logo, Asia category. Over 223 logos and identities from 30 countries participated in the eleventh WOLDA awards.

The WOLDA is a worldwide competition for logos and corporate identity, honoring the world’s best work. It was founded in 2006 in Milan, Italy and is now organized by the International Editorial-Design and Research Forum in Meerbusch, Germany.

The NYUAD student group was composed of Manesha Ramesh, Ilya Akimov, and Jude Al Qubaisi. In fall 2019, the group took the Foundations of Graphic Design class with Assistant Professor of Practice of Visual Arts, Goffredo Puccetti. As part of the course, the whole class brainstormed, drafted and pitched new center visual identities for the Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics (CAP3). And mentored by Professor Puccetti, the winning team did a fantastic job!

Credits: 

  • Professor: Goffredo Puccetti
  • Logo concept: Manesha Ramesh
  • Visual Identity: Manesha Ramesh, Ilya Akimov, Jude Al Qubaisi
  • Masters: Humus Design

Mind Over Dark Matter

Professor Andrea Macciò has been searching his entire life for something that science knows is there but has never seen.

Scientists Are Making Virtual Galaxies 

Watch Andrea Valerio Maccio discuss how he's trying to unravel the deepest mysteries of the universe using virtual galaxies built on a supercomputer.

Publications 

December 2020: Macció, Andrea V, Prats, Daniel Huterer, Dixon, Keri L, Buck Tobias,  Waterval, Stefan, Arora, Nikhil, Courteau, Stéphane, Kang, Xi https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020MNRAS.tmp.3522M/abstract

November 2020: Hattori, Soichiro; Straal, Samayra M.; Zhang, Emily; Temim, Tea; Gelfand, Joseph D.; Slane, Patrick O. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020ApJ...904...32H/abstract

September 2020: Hattori, Soichiro; Straal, Samayra M.; Zhang, Emily; Temim, Tea; Gelfand, Joseph D.; Slane, Patrick O. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020arXiv200910330H/abstract

September 2020: Gotthelf, E. V., Safi-Harb, S., Straal, S. M., and Gelfand, J. D., https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020arXiv200906616G/abstract

September 2020: Russell, T. D.; Lucchini, M.; Tetarenko, A. J.; Miller-Jones, J. C. A.; Sivakoff, G. R.; Krauß, F.; Mulaudzi, W.; Baglio, M. C.; Russell, D. M.; Altamirano, D.; Ceccobello, C.; Corbel, S.; Degenaar, N.; van den Eijnden, J.; Fender, R.; Heinz, S.; Koljonen, K. I. I.; Maitra, D.; Markoff, S.; Migliari, S.; Parikh, A. S.; Plotkin, R. M.; Rupen, M.; Sarazin, C.; Soria, R.; Wijnands, R. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020MNRAS.tmp.2040R/abstract

August 2020: Goodwin, A. J.; Russell, D. M.; Galloway, D. K.; Baglio, M. C.; Parikh, A. S.; Buckley, D. A. H.; Homan, J.; Bramich, D. M.; in't Zand, J. J. M.; Heinke, C. O.; Kotze, E. J.; de Martino, D.; Papitto, A.; Lewis, F.; Wijnands, R. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020MNRAS.498.3429G/abstract

August 2020: Marino, A.; Malzac, J.; Del Santo, M.; Migliari, S.; Belmont, R.; Di Salvo, T.; Russell, D. M.; Lopez Miralles, J.; Perucho, M.; D'Aì, A.; Iaria, R.; Burderi, L. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020MNRAS.498.3351M/abstract

July 2020: Zaw, Ingyin;  Rosenthal, Michael J.; Katkov, Ivan Yu.; Gelfand, Joseph D.; Chen, Yan-Ping; Greenhill, Lincoln J.; Brisken, Walter; Noori, Hind Al https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020ApJ...897..111Z/abstract

July 2020: Maccarone, Thomas J.; Osler, Arlo; Miller-Jones, James C. A.; Atri, P.; Russell, David M.; Meier, David L.; McHardy, Ian M.; Longa-Peña, Penelope A https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020MNRAS.498L..40M/abstract

June 2020: Espinasse, Mathilde; Corbel, Stéphane; Kaaret, Philip; Tremou, Evangelia; Migliori, Giulia; Plotkin, Richard M.; Bright, Joe; Tomsick, John; Tzioumis, Anastasios; Fender, Rob; Orosz, Jerome A.; Gallo, Elena; Homan, Jeroen; Jonker, Peter G.; Miller-Jones, James C. A.; Russell, David M.; Motta, Sara https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020ApJ...895L..31E/abstract

May 1, 2020: D M Russell, P Casella, E Kalemci, A Vahdat Motlagh, P Saikia, S F Pirbhoy, D Maitra, The appearance of a compact jet in the soft–intermediate state of 4U 1543−47, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 495, Issue 1, June 2020, Pages 182–191, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1182

April 30, 2020: Sera Markoff, David M Russell, Jason Dexter, Oliver Pfuhl, Frank Eisenhauer, Roberto Abuter, James C A Miller-Jones, Thomas D Russell, Infrared interferometry to spatially and spectrally resolve jets in X-ray binaries, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 495, Issue 1, June 2020, Pages 525–535, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1193

Researcher Team

The Center's core team is diverse and includes: 

  • local Physics and Mathematics faculty members, researchers and PhD students at NYU Abu Dhabi
  • researchers from the like-minded Center for Space Science at NYU Abu Dhabi 
  • faculty from the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics at NYU New York
  • international faculty members from the NYU Global Network

Please find the core members below.

    • Francesco Arneodo Principal Investigator | Associate Dean of Science and Professor of Physics
    • Ian Dobbs-Dixon Principal Investigator | Assistant Professor of Physics
    • Andrea Macciò Director | Program Head, Physics; Associate Professor, NYU Abu Dhabi
    • Dave Russell Principal Investigator | Assistant Professor of Physics
    • Milan Bogosavljevic Co-Principal Investigator | Associate Lecturer of Physics
    • Joseph D Gelfand Co-Principal Investigator | Associate Professor of Physics
    • Francesco Paparella Co-Principal Investigator | Associate Professor of Mathematics
    • Mallory Roberts Co-Principal Investigator | Assistant Professor of Practice of Physics
    • Hisham Sati Co-Principal Investigator |Associate Professor of Mathematics
    • Katepalli Sreenivasan Co-Principal Investigator | Principal Investigator, Center for Space Science
    • Ingyin Zaw Co-Principal Investigator | Associate Professor of Physics