Dark matter is an exotic type of matter which is not yet well-understood. Our research team has been investigating dark matter using a phenomenon called weak gravitational lensing -- matter causes a curvature in space, so massive clumps of dark matter cause nearby light rays to bend, creating a lensing effect. We have been analyzing distant galaxy clusters, trying to detect the presence and abundance of dark matter in these regions of space by looking for these gravitational lenses. Since this lensing effect is usually very weak, we have been using statistical methods to pinpoint the lenses and hence the dark matter. We hope our work can teach physicists something about the nature of dark matter.
Chalfin, Harry, Liu, Binyang, Chen, Elizabeth, et al.,
"Dark matter mapping by weak gravitational lensing"
(2017).
Summer Research Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/yhmp-mk70
Each year, Brown University showcases the research of its undergraduates at the Summer Research Symposium. More than half of the student-researchers are UTRA recipients, while others receive funding from a variety of Brown-administered and national programs and fellowships and go …
