Lifeboat Foundation

We argue that extensions of the SM with a warped extra dimension, together with a new $${\mathbb {Z}}_2$$ Z 2-odd scalar singlet, provide a natural explanation not only for the hierarchy problem but also for the nature of fermion bulk masses and the observed dark matter relic abundance. In particular, the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the new scalar particle, which is required to naturally obtain fermion bulk masses through Yukawa-like interactions, can be the leading portal to any fermion propagating into the bulk of the extra dimension and playing the role of dark matter. Moreover, such scalar excitations will necessarily mix with the Higgs boson, leading to modifications of the Higgs couplings and branching ratios, and allowing the Higgs to mediate the coannihilation of the fermionic dark matter.

Chair emeritus, SETI institute — the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Dr. Jill Tarter is Chair Emeritus for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research at the SETI Institute, a not-for-profit research organization whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to apply the knowledge gained to inspire and guide present and future generations.

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Scientists have discovered the first evidence for a rare type of stellar explosion, or supernova in the Milky Way. This intriguing object lies near the center of our galaxy in a supernova remnant called Sagittarius A East (Sgr A East). Chandra data revealed that Sgr A East may belong to a spec.

It is a visitor from a strange land.

Eventually, galaxies stop making new stars. But why did some stop so much sooner than others? Hint: black holes play a role.

A galaxy’s main business is star formation. And when they’re young, like youth everywhere, they keep themselves busy with it. But galaxies age, evolve, and experience a slow-down in their rate of star formation. Eventually, galaxies cease forming new stars altogether, and astronomers call that quenching. They’ve been studying quenching for decades, yet much about it remains a mystery.

A new study based on the IllustrisTNG simulations has found a link between a galaxy’s quenching and its stellar size.

Continue reading “Astronomers Can Predict When a Galaxy’s Star Formation Ends Based on the Shape and Size of its Disk” »

Scientists are finally figuring out how much dark matter — the almost imperceptible material said to tug on everything, yet emit no light — really weighs.

Astronomy owes George Ellery Hale and the Palomar Observatory a great debt of gratitude for persevering with the construction of a telescope that forever changed cosmology.

BASE opens up new possibilities in the search for cold dark matter.

The Baryon Antibaryon Symmetry Experiment (BASE) at CERN’s Antimatter Factory has set new limits on how easily axion-like particles in a narrow mass range around 2.97 neV can turn into photons, the particles of light. BASE’s new result, published by Physical Review Letters, describes this pioneering method and opens up new experimental possibilities in the search for cold dark matter.

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I don’t think that star is the same after that one night stand.

When black holes swallow down massive amounts of matter from the space around them, they’re not exactly subtle about it. They belch out tremendous flares of X-rays, generated by the material heating to intense temperatures as it’s sucked towards the black hole, so bright we can detect them from Earth.

This is normal black hole behaviour. What isn’t normal is for those X-ray flares to spew forth with clockwork regularity, a puzzling behaviour reported in 2019 from a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy 250 million light-years away. Every nine hours, boom — X-ray flare.

Continue reading “Astronomers Have Discovered a Star That Survived Being Swallowed by a Black Hole” »