Dragan Huterer
University of Michigan, MI·Astronomy & Astrophysics
How fast is the universe expanding? This rate, called the Hubble constant, is now measured in two main ways, and the two give conflicting answers.
- Fields
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Physics
- Topics
Hubble constant
Hubble tension
cosmology
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Develop a method to measure the Hubble constant by cross-correlating gravitational-wave dark sirens with galaxy distributions. Dark sirens are merger events with no detected light.
- Test the dark siren-galaxy cross-correlation method thoroughly against systematic errors, then apply it to current gravitational-wave and galaxy data.
- Forecast the Hubble constant constraints possible with future data, and assess how astrophysical systematic effects limit recovery of the Hubble constant.
More about the research
Measurements based on the cosmic microwave background, the leftover light from the early universe, give a lower value. Measurements based on nearby galaxies and type Ia supernovae give a higher value. The two results disagree at the "five sigma" level, which corresponds to about 99.9999% confidence. Explaining this "Hubble tension" has become a central effort in cosmology. An independent third method could help explain the disagreement or even resolve it.
Why it matters
This is basic science. The work could provide an independent, more robust measurement of the universe's expansion rate. That could help determine whether the Hubble tension comes from measurement errors or from missing physics in our standard model of cosmology. The tension is one of the central open problems in the field.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Hsin-Yu Chen
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Quantify systematic uncertainties that electromagnetic counterpart emission from merging neutron stars introduces into standard siren measurements of the Hubble constant.
Tristan Smith
Swarthmore College, PA·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Determine the theory space available to extensions of LCDM, the standard cosmological model, by identifying which model properties are required to resolve the disagreements in the measured expansion rate and matter clustering.
Soubhik Kumar
Tufts University, MA·Physics
Use effective field theory to classify the non-Gaussian signatures, unusual statistical patterns, left by heavy beyond-Standard-Model particles produced during inflation, and build templates for searches in cosmic microwave background (CMB) surveys.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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