From a mountaintop in Chile, under clear dark skies, NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has begun the revolutionary Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The ten-year survey is Rubin’s signature campaign to create the most comprehensive, cinematic record of the Universe in history.

UC Davis has dozens of faculty members who belong to some of the most prestigious membership organizations in the world, a recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in research. This month the "Among the Academies" series profiles Andreas Albrecht, of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Trions form when three particles, like quarks or electrons, come together. This formation occurs in quantum particles in nuclear physics, semiconductors and magnets, and understanding its behavior can be challenging.

An expert in quantum precision measurements, Nancy Aggarwal creates technologies to detect the universe’s unseen phenomena. In her lab, she’s developing two major experimental platforms: a first-of-its-kind gravitational-wave observatory and precision measurement systems for next-generation dark matter searches.

The Regeneration Research Program is designed to help faculty fill gaps created by the current constrained funding environment. Grant awards range from $5,000 to $20,000, depending on proposed needs and budget justification.

UC Davis Professor of Physics and Astronomy Andrew Wetzel has been appointed to the newest class of the U.S. Defense Science Study Group, a program directed by the Institute for Defense Analyses. The program invites outstanding science and engineering professors to apply their skills and research to the United States’ security challenges.

While almost the complete inverse of astronomy and cosmology, fields concerned with the largest objects in our universe, particle physics aims to answer similar questions but from a different vantage. Matthew Citron discusses how particle physicists like himself use particle accelerators to search for dark matter.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have made a surprising discovery about a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away: It isn’t rotating. That’s something only seen in the most massive, mature galaxies that are closer to us in space and time, said Ben Forrest, a research scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis, and first author on the paper published May 4 in Nature Astronomy. 

TIME has named University of California, Davis Distinguished Research Professor Tony Tyson, of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, to the 2026 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

At the April Astronomy on Tap event, Professor Daniel Cebra, the chair of the UC Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy, discusses how space agencies such as NASA contend with cosmic radiation when it comes to space travel and how his work as a high-energy nuclear physicist can help address these hazards.