This event has now finished.
  • Date and time: Friday 12 June 2020, 8pm to 9pm
  • Location: Online event
  • Audience: Open to alumni, staff, students, the public
  • Admission: Free admission, booking required

Event details

Missed this event? Watch the conversation on Youtube. 

It’s a cosmic mystery! Up to 80 per cent of the Universe could be invisible ‘dark matter’ - but despite decades of scientific research, astronomers are still searching for clues.

Composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect or emit light, dark matter cannot be seen directly. But scientists know it exists because of its interaction via gravity with visible matter like stars and planets.

In this special live episode of the Syzygy podcast, York astronomer Emily Brunsden and her co-host Chris Stewart delve into the dark matter enigma with nuclear physicists Mikhail Bashkanov and Dan Watts.

Mikhail and Dan are part of a team at the University of York that recently put forward a new candidate for the mysterious matter - a particle they discovered called the d-star hexaquark, possibly created in large quantities soon after the Big Bang. 

Could this exciting new discovery unlock the secrets of dark matter? Join us to find out more!

Missed this event? Watch the conversation on Youtube. 

 

About the speakers

Dr Emily Brunsden is a Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of York specialising in Astrophysics. She is the Director of Astrocampus - a teaching and outreach observatory at the University of York.

Chris Stewart produces the Syzygy podcast, and is a York-based freelance science communicator, trainer, performer, audio and video producer

Dr Mikhail Bashkanov is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Physics at the University of York specialising in nuclear (Hadron) physics.

Professor Dan Watts is an Inspirational Research Leader in the Department of Physics at the University of York specialising in nuclear (Hadron) physics.