Astroparticle physics: how the biggest objects in the Universe are influenced by its tiniest constituents

It may seem counterintuitive that astronomy, the study of incomprehensibly big things, could be in any way connected to particle physics—the study of the incomprehensibly small. However, the field of astroparticle physics is a rich and fascinating discipline that reveals there are many deep connections between these two realms. In fact, many astronomical objects cannot be understood without knowledge of the processes governing the behaviour of fundamental particles. And on the flip side, studying the behaviours of things like stars and galaxies can give us unique insights into fundamental physics that we would never be able to gain access to in mundane human-scale laboratory experiments. Astroparticle physics therefore deals with some of the largest outstanding questions that we still have about the universe, such as the nature of the elusive dark matter, among other mysteries.

Dr Ciaran O’Hare

Ciaran O’Hare is an ARC DECRA fellow working at the interface between astronomy and particle physics. He got his PhD from the University of Nottingham in the UK and eventually moved to Australia in 2019 to work at the University of Sydney, and within the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics. His primary research focus is on trying to understand the nature of dark matter.