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Research in Multimessenger Astrophysics

Our research explores the universe through multiple cosmic messengers—gravitational waves, high-energy particles, and light—to uncover the fundamental workings of space, time, and matter.

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illustration of two black holes merging

The Scope of Center Research

The research conducted by members of the UMCMA spans the full range of multimessenger astrophysics.

  • The Gravitational Wave Group "listens" to the gravitational waves produced by black hole and neutron star mergers.
  • The High Energy Particle Group detects interactions of particles to reveal supernova dynamics, spacetime structure, and the presence of dark matter.
  • The Blazar Group watches extragalactic jets of light streaming from supermassive black holes.

Together, we use information from all these messengers to learn how the universe works. Below are a few examples of current research projects by Center faculty.

External Funding

A key motivation for creating the UMCMA was to increase the success rate and funding levels of external grant proposals. Several of the UMCMA personnel have served on grant review panels and seen firsthand the advantage afforded by the infrastructure and intellectual support provided by established research centers.

Being part of the UMCMA enhances the competitiveness of PI grant proposals in several ways.

  • Dedicated center administrative staff can increase the efficiency and quality of proposal preparation
  • Membership in the UMCMA validates that a strong collaborative local academic team supports the PI
  • Availability of some Center resources to augment grant funds enhances confidence of project success

All these benefits give an edge to CMA-aligned grant proposals, resulting in a higher success rate securing external funding. As a result, in the first five years of operation, UMCMA-related external funding has increased 5-fold, including NSF CAREER and EPSCoR awards and a Sloan Fellowship.

High Energy Particles

High-energy physics is the exploration of the basic building blocks of matter and their interactions. Using a combination of cutting-edge theoretical tools and the latest data from astroparticles and particle accelerators around the world, our research groups push the boundaries of knowledge about how the universe works at the most fundamental level.
image of Gavin Davies
large underground detector equipment

Dr. Gavin Davies

Dr. Davies, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, studies neutrinos on the NOvA and DUNE experiments. Those experiments measure properties of neutrinos in accelerator beams produced at Fermilab, but also serve as telescopes to observe astrophysical neutrinos from cosmic phenomena such as supernova explosions.

image of faculty member standing in front of large computer monitors

Dr. Breese Quinn

Dr. Quinn, Professor of Physics and Director of UMCMA, works on the Fermilab Muon g-2 experiment, which somewhat stretches the idea of multimessenger astrophysics. He uses muons in a storage ring as a sensitive probe of the spacetime structure of the universe, searching for violations of spacetime symmetries and evidence of dark matter. The High Energy Physics postdocs and graduate students have also won several fellowships to support their work in residence at Fermilab.

Gravitational Waves

UM faculty and students have research specialties in the areas of black holes and gravitational waves. We participate in the LIGO experiment, study the emission of gravitational waves from astrophysical sources, try to understand the geometrical structure of space-time at the smallest scales, and contribute to the worldwide search for the ultimate theory of quantum gravity.
image of faculty member holding a lens in a classroom

Dr. Anuradha Gupta

Dr. Gupta, an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and LISA Consortium. She works towards the detection and parameter estimation of gravitational wave signals coming mostly from binary systems composed of neutron stars and black holes.

image of faculty and student looking at a computer screen

Dr. Leo Stein

Dr. Stein, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was selected as an emerging leader in STEM innovation as a 2023 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. A renowned researcher of astronomy and black holes, Stein has coauthored articles in the peer-reviewed journal Physical Review Letters and received a Faculty Early Career Development Program Award from the National Science Foundation. 

He works to mathematically model how black holes 'ring down' like a bell in order to test Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity.

Electromagnetic Radiation

The Blazar Group studies electromagnetic radiation emanating from the jets of supermassive black holes (i.e., blazars). Blazars emit light across the entire electromagnetic spectrum (from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma-rays). Blazars exhibit dramatic flares on time scales ranging from months, to days, and even minutes. The Blazar Group is actively involved in both observations and numerical simulations of Blazars.
image of Nick MacDonald
artist illustration of a beam of light coming out of a black hole in space

Dr. Nicholas MacDonald

Dr. MacDonald's research focuses on the study of blazar jets which emanate from supermassive black holes. These beams of high-energy plasma extend out to extragalactic distances and travel at highly relativistic speeds. MacDonald has been involved in theoretical, observational, and numerical studies of the physics of blazar jet propagation and emission from kilo-parsec to sub-parsec scales. He leads UM's Blazar Group and is a member of the UMCMA.

student inside a dome reaching up to touch a part on a large telescope

Training Students with Research Telescopes

Dr. MacDonald is PI of an National Science Foundation EPSCoR grant to fund a partnership between UM and Boston University (BU). In particular, the UM and BU Blazar Groups are conducting joint polarimetric monitoring of a sample of blazars (including PKS 1510-089). These observations are ongoing and involve the training of UM students at the Perkins Telescope Observatory in Arizona.

His lab group receives extensive on-site training in the use of the PRISM instrument that is used for this blazar monitoring. A key feature of this grant is to provide UM students with on-site experience operating a research class telescope.

Research on Location

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)

America's high energy physics laboratory, host to thousands of researchers from around the world. [Photo credit: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab]

image of a large metal grid being moved into place in a large underground chamber

NOvA

NuMI Off-axis νe Appearance experiment is shedding light on one of nature’s most elusive particles: neutrinos. It consists of a near detector at Fermilab and a far detector at Ash River, Minnesota. [Photo credit: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab]

illustration of an underground experimental site connected to Fermilab many miles away

DUNE

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is the next generation leading-edge, international experiment for neutrino science. It will consist of a near detector suite at Fermilab and far detectors at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. [Illustration credit: DUNE Collaboration]

schematic design of an experimental machine

EMPHATIC

The EMPHATIC (Experiment to Measure the Production of Hadrons At a Testbeam In Chicagoland) experiment is based at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility (FTBF). It is a table-top-sized experiment that measures hadron production for improved neutrino flux predictions. [Illustration Credit: EMPHATIC Collaboration]

image of a large, round machine inside a room

Muon g-2

Muon g-2 is an experiment at Fermilab to measure the precession of muons in a magnetic field to a precision of 140 parts per billion. [Photo credit: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab]

aerial image of a large, underground facility

LIGO Livingston

Located in Livingston, LA, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory measures the distortions in space-time occurring between stationary, hanging masses (mirrors) caused by passing gravitational waves.

illustration of three satellites in a triangle formation in space

LISA

LISA, Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, consists of three spacecraft that form an equilateral triangle in space where the sides of the triangle extend about a million miles. They relay laser beams back and forth and the signals are combined to search for gravitational wave signatures that come from distortions of spacetime.

image of a large telescope taken through a window

Radio Telescope Effelsberg

Dr. MacDonald is PI of a coordinated global multi-wavelength Very Long Baseline Interferometric (VLBI) observation of the blazar PKS 1510-089. The Effelsberg Radio Telescope (which is located near Bonn, Germany) participated in these observations. The radio data collected is currently being reduced at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), and theoretical modelling of this blazar is being carried out at the UMCMA. [Photo Credit: Dr. Nick MacDonald]

image of a white domed observatory building

Perkins Telescope

The Perkins Telescope Observatory, owned and operated by Boston University, is located near Flagstaff. MacDonald is PI of an NSF EPSCoR grant to fund a partnership between UM and Boston University (BU). In particular, the UM and BU Blazar Groups are conducting joint polarimetric monitoring of a sample of blazars (including PKS 1510-089). These observations are ongoing and involve the training of UM students at the Perkins telescope (which is located near Flagstaff, Arizona). [Photo credit: Dr. Nick MacDonald]