Experimental Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
We study cosmology and neutrino astrophysics utilizing radio and millimeter wavelength detection techniques.
Radio Detection of Ultra-high Energy Neutrinos: We are leaders in the design, development, simulation, and analysis of data from experiments that look for ultra-high energy astrophysical and cosmogenic neutrinos through the radio emission that is made as a result of neutrino interactions on Earth. We lead major experiments in this field, including RNO-G, and PUEO.
Precision Measurements of CMB Polarization: We build telescopes that make precision measurements of the polarization of the CMB to learn about an inflationary period in the early universe and about the properties of neutrinos, among other things. We are involved in SPT, BICEP, and the development of CMB-S4, a large-scale ground-based CMB experiment.
Scroll down to read more about research and news from the lab.
Ongoing Projects
PUEO
We are the lead institution on the PUEO experiment, a NASA long-duration balloon (LDB) experiment and a part of the NASA Pioneers program. Currently in construction, PUEO will aim to detect radio signals generated via the Askaryan effect from the highest energy neutrinos interacting in the Antarctic ice sheet. PUEO will be sensitive to higher energy neutrinos than other techniques. PUEO is scheduled to launch from McMurdo Station in Antarctica in December of 2025.
RNO-G
We are co-leading the development and deployment of RNO-G, an in-ice radio detector that is being deployed to Summit Station in Greenland. RNO-G builds on the success of ARA and incorporates new interferometric phased array trigger technology. RNO-G will have the sensitivity required to observe ultra-high energy neutrinos. Construction is in progress, with eight out of 35 total science stations completed.
SPT
We collaborate on the South Pole Telescope (SPT), a 10-meter CMB telescope, with particular interest in combining data from SPT and BICEP to further constrain the physics of inflation, by delensing BICEP data with data from SPT to improve sensitivity to inflationary B-modes in the CMB. We are also interested in astrophysical transients in the sub-mm and in development of a next-generation camera for SPT.
BICEP
We collaborate on BICEP and the Keck Array, which constitute a suite of telescopes at the South Pole that observe the CMB on large angular scales to search for a B-mode polarization signature in the CMB from primordial gravitational waves from inflation.
PUEO in the UChicago High-Bay April 2025
Our Team
Abigail Vieregg
David N. Schramm Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
Professor, Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Enrico Fermi Institute, KICP. Ph.D., UCLA, 2010.
Cosmin Deaconu
Research Assistant Professor, Ph.D. MIT 2015.
Eric Oberla
Research Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Chicago 2015.
Philipp Windischhofer
Grainger Postdoctoral Fellow, Ph.D. Oxford 2022
Keith McBride
Grainger Postdoctoral Fellow, Ph.D. OSU 2022.
Anna Kofman
Postdoctoral Researcher, Ph.D. UPenn 2024
Zachary Martin
Physics Graduate Student
Scott Mackey
Physics Graduate Student
Rachel Scrandis
Physics Graduate Student
Nat Alden
Physics Graduate Student
Jack Stethem
Physics Graduate Student
Stephanie Damish
Physics Graduate Student
Michael Hetu
Physics Graduate Student
Marissa Boucher
Undergraduate student, Physics
Alex Papen
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Caden Tebow
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Aidan Nicholas
Undergraduate student, Physics
Grant Drager
Executive Assistant to Abby Vieregg
This could be you!
We are always looking for new graduate students and postdocs who are a good fit for our research! Contact Abby (avieregg@kicp.uchicago.edu) if you’re interested in joining our group.
Great Vieregg Bake-Off December 2024
Select Recent Publications
RECENT PUBLICATIONS LED BY VIEREGG GROUP MEMBERS
“Instrument Design and Performance of the First Seven Stations of RNO-G”, Submitted to NIM, (2024)
“A Search for AGN Sources of the IceCube Diffuse Neutrino Flux”, JCAP 6 35, (2024)
“Design and Initial Performance of the Prototype for the BEACON Instrument for Detection of Ultrahigh Energy Particles”, NIM A, 1048 (2023)
“A low-threshold ultrahigh-energy neutrino search with the Askaryan Radio Array”, PRD 105:122006 (2022)
“In situ, broadband measurement of the radio frequency attenuation length at Summit Station, Greenland”, J. Glaciology 68:272 (2022)
“The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO): A White Paper”, JINST 3, 31 (2021)
“Design and Sensitivity of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G)”, JINST 16 P03025 (2021)
“Constraints on the ultra-high energy cosmic neutrino flux from the fourth flight of ANITA”, PRD 99, 122001 (2019)
“Astrophysics Uniquely Enabled by Observations of High-Energy Cosmic Neutrinos”, Astro2020 Decadal Survey (2019), arXiv: 1903.04334
News About Our Group
Our lab has been featured….
Graduate Student and Postdoc Alumni
Nicole Larsen
KICP Fellow Alum
Department of Defense
Kelli Michaels
Masters Student Alum
Guest Engagement Facilitator at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Christoph Welling
KICP Fellow Alum
Postdoctoral Scholar Penn State
Contact Us
Our research group is part of the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics (KICP), the Department of Physics, the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, and the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago.
For general group questions, please contact Grant Drager at gdrager@uchicago.edu. Abby Vieregg can be reached via email at avieregg@kicp.uchicago.edu, or at the following mailing address:
University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave – ERC 499/429, Chicago, IL 60637