Pitt, SDSS Confirm Einstein’s Prediction

Applying cutting-edge computer science to a wealth of new astronomical data, Pitt researchers and their colleagues in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) reported April 26 the first robust detection of cosmic magnification on a large scale, confirming a prediction of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity applied to the distribution of galaxies, dark matter, and distant quasars.

These findings, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, detail the subtle distortions that light undergoes as it travels from distant quasars through the web of dark matter and galaxies before reaching the Earth.

The SDSS discovery ends a two-decade disagreement between earlier magnification measurements and other cosmological tests of the relationship between galaxies, dark matter, and the overall geometry of the universe. Full Article...

	Hong Koo Kim at the March 24 virtual groundbreaking for Pitt’s planned Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility.

Big Science, on a Nanoscale

Researchers in the University’s Institute of NanoScience and Engineering have received many honors. Though they come from the Schools of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and the Health Sciences, these researchers are, increasingly, collaborators. That’s because the sciences are intersecting at the nanolevel. “In every discipline, there is a growing need for fundamental capabilities to look at and act on the molecular level,” says Hong Koo Kim, codirector of Pitt’s Institute of NanoScience and Engineering. “If you talk with people across various disciplines, you learn different approaches.” Full Article...