Gravity & the Extreme Universe
What is extreme gravity, and how can it help us understand the origin of the universe?
For most of human history, our only information about the Universe came from visible light. Later we learned to detect other forms of electromagnetic radiation like infrared and radio waves. Now we can detect gravitational waves, opening the door to new ways of observing and understanding the Universe. Astronomers, cosmologists, physicists, and computer scientists in the Gravity & the Extreme Universe program ask questions about the nature of extreme gravity, the origin and evolution of the universe, and the structure of compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars, as well as profound questions about fundamental physics and astrophysics.
Applications Now Open: CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Program
The Gravity & the Extreme Universe program seeks to answer profound questions about the nature of extreme gravity and other fundamental physics and astrophysics by using gravitational wave detection, together with a variety of forefront electromagnetic and particle experiments and observations. It brings together leading researchers from a unique and carefully defined breadth of inter-related fields, across theory, observation and experimentation, to take advantage of converging research frontiers. The program addresses three specific research questions: 1) What is the nature of extreme gravity? This theme includes the use of gravitational waves to better understand merging compact objects and pulsar timing arrays. 2) What is the origin of the universe and how did it evolve? This theme includes theoretical efforts alongside observation to elucidate the nature of dark matter, neutrinos and dark energy. 3) What is the structure of compact objects, particularly the universe’s population of black holes and neutron stars? This theme brings together observational and theoretical expertise for synergistic exploration of these exotic objects and the extreme physics they embody.
RESEARCH AND SOCIETAL IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS
Outrigger telescope boosts the search for fast radio bursts
A collaborative Catalyst Fund project led by several program members is pushing forward the CIFAR-catalyzed CHIME fast radio burst (FRB) project to build outrigger telescopes. The building of these outrigger telescopes, which will be located at 1,000 kilometre distances from CHIME itself, will enable the localization of FRBs to sub-arcsecond precision to identify their host galaxies and distances. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has expanded upon this effort by providing $11M CAD, that will support the design and construction of the outrigger telescopes.
Mapping the structure of the universe
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope made its first detection of cosmologically neutral hydrogen gas. The resulting data will be used to trace the expansion history of the Universe and determine the properties of “dark energy” that is driving the acceleration of that expansion. This has profound implications for understanding the fate of our universe and the physics of the space-time vacuum. CHIME is funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and several provincial government partners, with additional support from NSERC and CIFAR.
Understanding the mysterious phenomenon of fast radio bursts
Program members made major strides toward better understanding fast radio bursts (FRBs) thanks to several major research findings. The discovery of the nearest FRB in the close spiral galaxy M81 by Program Director and R. Howard Webster Foundation Fellow Victoria Kaspi and Fellow Matt Dobbs (both McGill University) offers an important new opportunity to study FRBs up close. Program members including Matt Dobbs, Victoria Kaspi, Ue-Li Pen (University
of Toronto), Scott Ransom (National Radio Astronomy Observatory), Kendrick Smith (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics), Ingrid Stairs (University of British Columbia), and Shriharsh P. Tendulkar (National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) collaborated on the detection of a FRB showing a variation in the arrival times of pulses that strongly suggests it originates from a neutron star. Kaspi and Fellows Matt Dobbs, Mark Halpern (University of British Columbia), Gary Hinshaw (University of British Columbia), Ue-Li Pen, Scott Ransom, Kendrick Smith, Ingrid Stairs, and S. P. Tendulkar also published the first major FRB catalogue.
A collaboration between astronomy and AI
Following up on a 2020 roundtable that discussed how AI algorithms used in analyzing astronomical and cosmological data can be applied to other fields, program members are working together with Canada CIFAR AI Chairs to plan a workshop that will further explore the intersection of astronomy/cosmology .and AI/machine learning to be held in 2022.
PATH TO SOCIETAL IMPACT
We invite experts in industry, civil society, healthcare and government to join fellows in our Gravity & the Extreme Universe program for in-depth, cross-sectoral conversations that drive change and innovation.
Academic and industrial experts in biomedical data analysis and artificial intelligence and CIFAR fellows in the Gravity & the Extreme Universe program are bringing about new technological innovations by using data science techniques from astronomy and cosmology to address complex challenges in genomics and medical imaging, and vice versa.
Areas of focus:
- Finding opportunities for advanced image analysis to be deployed across disciplines
- Identifying key areas, such as image classification or data processing, where researchers and industry can collaborate.
Founded
1986
Renewal Dates
1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016
Supporters
R. Howard Webster Foundation
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Astrophysics
Astronomy
Astroparticle, computational, high energy and particle physics
Observational cosmology
CIFAR Contact
Fellows & Advisors
Program Director
Victoria M. Kaspi
Program Director
R. Howard Webster Foundation Fellow
Luis Lehner
Program Co-Director
Fellows
J. Richard Bond
Fellow
Mark C. Chen
Fellow
Matt Dobbs
Fellow
Mark Halpern
Fellow
Gary Hinshaw
Fellow
Gilbert Holder
Fellow
Vicky Kalogera
Fellow
Victoria M. Kaspi
Program Director
R. Howard Webster Foundation Fellow
Juna A. Kollmeier
Fellow
CITA
University of Toronto
Arthur B. McDonald
Associate Fellow
Julio F. Navarro
Fellow
Barth Netterfield
Fellow
Ue-Li Pen
Fellow
Harald P. Pfeiffer
Associate Fellow
Frans Pretorius
Fellow
Scott Ransom
Fellow
Kendrick Smith
Fellow
Ingrid Stairs
Fellow
Neil Turok
Associate Fellow
Matias Zaldarriaga
Fellow
Advisors
Roger Blandford
Advisor
Gabriela González
Advisor
Lyman Page
Advisor
Eva Silverstein
Advisor
Scott D. Tremaine
Advisory Committee Chair
Simon White
Advisor
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars
Yacine Ali-Haïmoud
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024
Iair Arcavi
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021
Sarah Burke-Spolaor
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020
Maria R. Drout
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020
Daryl Haggard
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019
Renée Hložek
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021
Adrian Liu
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020
Katherine Mack
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Raffaella Margutti
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021
Ajith Parameswaran
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019
Shriharsh Tendulkar
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
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