Kuver Sinha
University of Oklahoma, OK·Physics
Most of the matter in the Universe is dark matter, a substance that does not fit the Standard Model, the theory that describes all known particles. Finding out what dark matter is, and how it arose in the early Universe, is one of the central problems in physics and may reveal new physical laws.
- Fields
Physics
Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Topics
dark matter
axions
primordial black holes
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2028
What they work on
- Constrain axions using neutron stars by combining X-ray polarization data and models of hard X-ray emission from magnetars with the group's framework for axion-induced polarization in dipolar magnetic fields.
- Probe unexplored axion properties using the timing and energy spectra of photons from decaying axions produced in neutron-star mergers.
- Test whether asteroid-mass primordial black holes make up dark matter by modeling their effects on stellar and pulsar binary systems.
- Calculate gravitational-wave spectra from early-Universe phase transitions and test dark-sector particles using black-hole inspiral signals.
- Model how axions and millicharged particles change the blue-loop stage and pulsation periods of Cepheid stars, and study early matter-dominated eras driven by cosmological moduli.
More about the research
This theoretical project explores how future gravitational-wave detectors, X-ray telescopes and astrophysical observations could test two leading dark matter candidates. The first is the axion, a hypothetical very light particle. The second is primordial black holes, small black holes that may have formed shortly after the Big Bang.
Why it matters
This is basic theoretical physics. It adds predictions that tell X-ray, gravitational-wave and stellar observations where to look for axions and primordial black holes. Those predictions could narrow down, or reveal, the identity of dark matter, the most abundant form of matter in the Universe, and point to physics beyond the Standard Model.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kaustubh Agashe
University of Maryland, MD·Physics
Develop frameworks in which Standard Model particles are composite and fused with supersymmetry, and test whether they resolve the electroweak and flavor hierarchy puzzles of the Standard Model.
Antonios Tsokaros
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Develop an open-source general relativistic initial data code, based on the COCAL (Compact Object CALculator) code, that lets users set up starting conditions for magnetized neutron stars and black holes, alone or in binaries.
David Tanner
University of Florida, FL·Physics
Complete commissioning of ALPS II and analyze its first science runs, which search for photons converting into axion-like particles or hidden photons that pass through a light-tight wall inside strong HERA dipole magnets.
The school
University of Oklahoma: 11 labs on PI Pages, $474M a year on research, 225 research doctorates a year.
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