In my research group and at the CP3-Origins centre, of which I am a part, we are working towards an understanding of two huge and related mysteries in nature. Namely how Mass came to be, and what dark matter is.
In the 70s it became clear that all the physics we understand today at best describes about 5 % of the universe. A much larger part of the universe consists of dark matter, which we do not know what is, but we know that it has been absolutely essential for the development of the universe: The Milky Way, our dwelling in the universe, would fall apart today without dark matter. In short, the world is born out of darkness!
We can study dark matter through the way it attracts ordinary matter like stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters through gravity. With data from many different experiments on earth, such as the LHC at CERN, and in space, e.g. on the International Space Station, we also try to observe dark matter directly.
In my work, we analyze the data from many of these experiments, and with the help of studies in fundamental theories and cosmology that some of my colleagues within the CP3 work with, we try to find the right description of dark matter. Some problems in my field can only be solved on supercomputers, and we work closely with the many physicists and supercomputer specialists at the Department of Mathematics and Computer science.
