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Illinois Center for Advanced Studies of the Universe

ICASU is an interdisciplinary arena for research, education, and outreach. Members of the center seek answers to problems in fundamental physics at the intersections of cosmology, gravity, high energy, and nuclear physics. ICASU researchers ask questions such as: What is the universe made of at the most fundamental level? What are the principles, symmetries, and forces that govern the interactions of the fundamental particles and fields? and How does the universe work at all scales of energy, curvature, and size? These questions are explored in nuclear physics through the study of all forms of nuclear matter; in high energy physics through study of particle interactions at all energy scales; in cosmology through the study of the evolution of the universe; and in gravitational physics through the study of black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves. ICASU focuses on the many connections among these fields and enables interdisciplinary research that deepens our understanding of the universe.