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Particle Physics Lab
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The lab uses particle physics theory to explore dark matter and neutrinos.
AboutAbout the lab
Searching for dark matter through theory
Associate Professor Motoko Fujiwara specializes in particle physics and uses theory to study the connections between elementary particles and the universe, focusing on dark matter and neutrinos.
She develops ways to search for dark matter using clues such as temperature observations of neutron stars, gamma rays produced by dark matter annihilation, and phenomena that occur near black holes.
In her message to high school students, she says that physics builds the ability to identify the essence of a problem and approximate it.
The Degree Project, the School of Interdisciplinary Science and Innovation's equivalent of a graduation thesis, is supervised by a team of several faculty members from different fields.
Key terms
- Degree Project
- The School of Interdisciplinary Science and Innovation's equivalent of a graduation thesis. The outcome can be a paper, a creative work, a policy proposal, or a social practice project.
- Spike
- A region near a supermassive black hole where the density of dark matter becomes extremely high.
- Tidal disruption event
- A phenomenon in which a star passing close to a black hole is torn apart by its strong gravity.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab uses particle physics theory to study the properties of dark matter and how to detect it through astronomical observations. It also studies how magnetic fields formed in the early universe change over time.
*Illustrative imageSearching for dark matter with neutron stars
The lab searches for dark matter using temperature observations of neutron stars as a clue. This work earned the Young Scientist Award of the Physical Society of Japan (Particle Physics Theory category).
*Illustrative imageGamma-ray signals from dark matter
The lab focuses on the gamma-ray spectrum with two peaks produced by dark matter annihilation. It tests whether TeV gamma-ray telescopes can detect these peaks, and whether they can distinguish the predictions of supersymmetry from those of extra-dimension theories.
*Illustrative imageDark matter spikes and neutrinos
In a joint study, the lab examines the effect of repeated neutrino scattering off dark matter in a spike, a region of densely concentrated dark matter near a supermassive black hole. It shows that this effect could explain the delay of several days in the arrival of high-energy neutrinos suggested by tidal disruption events.
*Illustrative imageEvolution of magnetic fields in the early universe
In a joint study, the lab examines how magnetic fields formed in the early universe change over time, under the condition that the fields have no helical structure. It presents a new description that explains the evolution in four stages, and uses it to interpret the results of numerical simulations.
MembersFaculty
- Associate ProfessorMotoko Fujiwara
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Webb Data Reveals Dark Matter (PIA26702)” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / NASA/STScI/J. DePasquale/A. Pagan / Public domain (cropped)
- Searching for dark matter with neutron stars: “Degenerate star sizes” Grufo / CC0 (cropped)
- Gamma-ray signals from dark matter: “Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope spacecraft model” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
- Dark matter spikes and neutrinos: “Black hole - Messier 87 crop max res” Event Horizon Telescope, uploader cropped and converted TIF to JPG / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Evolution of magnetic fields in the early universe: “Peering Back to the Early Universe (peering-back-to-the-early-universe-1)” Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, S. Finkelstein (UT Austin), M. Bagley (UT Austin), R. Larson (UT Austin). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Geophysics Lab): “Tavurvur volcano edit” Taro Taylor edit by Richard Bartz / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Physical Oceanography Lab): “Pacific-garbage-patch-map 2010 noaamdp” NOAA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Physical Oceanography Lab): “Sediment in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea (MODIS )” MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Physical Geography Lab): “Malolo Barrier Reef 5” Maksym Kozlenko / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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