PPGCosmo Highlights

Since its creation in 2016, PPGCosmo has established itself as a center of excellence in research and education, fostering significant scientific achievements by its students and faculty. The faculty includes CNPq research fellows (levels 1 and 2), researchers listed among the Top 2% Scientists in the World, and affiliated members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). This document presents these accomplishments in chronological order. Last updated: 04/24/2025.

2025

• A faculty member published an article in Physical Review Letters on a new technique to measure the spatial curvature of the Universe more robustly and independently of models, in collaboration with researchers from Italy and Germany. This work was highlighted by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF).

• A faculty member published an article in Physical Review Letters on recent results from the CONNIE experiment, which aims to test physics beyond the Standard Model. The tighter low-energy limits on models with fractional charge were made possible by the 2021 upgrade with next-generation CCDs, significantly contributed by CBPF.

2024

• A graduate published an article in Physical Review Letters with the first detection of a correlation between cosmic shear and the diffuse X-ray background, revealing how gas is distributed around dark matter clusters. The article was featured in a Synopsis published by APS Physics Magazine.

• A faculty member and their postdoc published an article in JHEAP identifying 3XMM J185246.6+003317 as a possible massive magnetar with a low surface magnetic field, suggesting new scenarios for stellar structure and superdense matter.

• A graduate of the program was invited to join the editorial board of the journal The Open Journal of Astrophysics.

• A faculty member published an article in Physical Review Letters, contributing significantly to astrophysics and multi-messenger studies. This work was highlighted by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF).

• A faculty member published an article in Physical Review Letters, advancing research on black hole physics.

• A graduate secured a permanent position as Associate Researcher I at the CBPF.

• A faculty member served as editor of the Handbook of Quantum Gravity, published by Springer.

• A faculty member received the Carolina Nemes Award, granted by the Brazilian Physical Society for outstanding contributions.

• Two faculty members published an article in Nature on the unprecedented observation of a kilonova explosion associated with a long-duration gamma-ray burst, possibly from the collision between a neutron star and a black hole outside the Milky Way. The study was highlighted by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF).