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The Excellence Cluster Universe –
an International Hot Spot
for Cosmological Research
he Universe today is a place much less mysterious than fundamental questions requires a close cooperation between as-
100 years ago. The 20th century has brought about some trophysicists, nuclear physicists and particle physicists – a col-
breakthrough fi ndings: It became clear that our Milky Way is laboration that has shown to be very fruitful in the past. For exam-
not a solitary structure in the Universe, but just one of pre- ple, the explanation of how the light elements formed shortly after
sumably 10
11
galaxies. Later scientists found evidence for the Big Bang is a result of combined forces of the three research
the birth of space and time: The Big Bang. In recent years fi elds. Another famous example is neutrino physics: The fi rst in-
remarkable progress has been made in understanding the dications for neutrino oscillations came from comparisons of de-
evolution of the Universe and in tracing back its formation tection rates for solar neutrinos with theoretical models of stellar
history. Nevertheless, there are still major questions to be an- structure. The quantitative analysis of neutrino fl uxes from distant
swered, especially when looking at the basic building blocks supernova explosions triggered off the new science of neutrino
of the Universe: space and time, the structure of matter as astronomy, providing unique information about stars and their
well as the nature of the fundamental forces. The Excellence explosive demise. Eventually, models for supernova explosions
Cluster Universe dedicates itself to investigate these ques- and for the production of the heavy elements require the determi-
tions, providing a unique research environment to boost sci- nation of nuclear reaction cross-sections at very low energies by
entifi c achievements in this fi eld. Located at the Garching nuclear physicists.
Campus of the Technische Universität München in the vicinity Recently enormous progress has been made in solving some of
of major research institutions, it acts as an incubator for new the big questions in astrophysics, nuclear and particle physics.
approaches to unlock the remaining secrets of the Universe. The Standard Model for particle physics as a gauge theory is now
The Cluster is expected to become one of the most dynamic fully established, both through high-precision experiments and
and innovative drivers for the international, interdisciplinary the theoretical formulation as a quantum fi eld theory. On the as-
cosmological research. trophysics side, we now enter the era of high-precision cosmol-
ogy through new measurements of the cosmic microwave back-
More insight, new questions ground by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)
The ever-growing knowledge on the evolution of the Universe or by Europe’s Planck satellite, and through large surveys of
raises new and interesting research questions. Exploring these the distribution of galaxies such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Evolution of the Universe
H Higgs
X forceν
ν
H
X,X X bosons
q
e
– ν Y, Y Y bosons
q
τ
q q
q
q
H q q g gluon
q q
g ν
τ
q q
τ e
+
a
t
io
n
q,q quarksq
ν
ν
In
f
l q
Y
X g ν
ν
?
? e
+ μ
g e
–
electron
Y
q
q
ν
e
+
μ e
–
ν
X
τ
e
+
q q
τ
W
q q e
–
νμ
e
+
positron
q
q q ν
μ
q
Z
g νμ
e
– ν ν
ν,ν neutrinosν
ν
e
–
q e
– τ q q
ν
q
H
μ,μ muons
τ
H
ν
ν
τ,τ tauons
ν
photon
ν
W,Z bosons
Excellence Cluster Universe – Research Areas:
E: Dark Universe q q
meson
B: Matter & Forces D: Early Universe F: Black Holes
q q
baryonq
A: Planck Scale & Strings C: Particle Hierarchy G: Heavy Elements
Today
ion
atom
© Excellence Cluster Universe
star
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