09/15/2024 On a regular basis, "Exzellent erklärt – Spitzenforschung für alle" reports from one of the 57 clusters of excellence funded under the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. In the second ORIGINS episode "The Universe in the lab: How artificial intelligence (AI) helps in the search for elementary particles", podcaster Larissa Vassilian talks to Prof. Dr. Lukas Heinrich and Dr. Philipp Eller about the use of artificial intelligence in physics.

09/06/2024 Researchers from LMU, the ORIGINS Excellence Cluster, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), and the ORIGINS Data Science Lab (ODSL) have made an important breakthrough in the analysis of exoplanet atmospheres. Using physics-informed neural networks (PINNs), they have managed to model the complex light scattering in the atmospheres of exoplanets with greater precision than has previously been possible. This method opens up new opportunities for the analysis of exoplanet atmospheres, especially with regard to the influence of clouds, and could…

09/05/2024 ORIGINS scientist Prof. Philipp Reiss has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Research Council for his project VOLARIS. Philipp Reiss holds the professorship for Lunar and Planetary Exploration at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). His research is dedicated to the exploration of the moon, the planets and space, as well as the technologies required for this.

08/02/2024 The origins of life remain a major mystery. How were complex molecules able to form and remain intact for prolonged periods without disintegrating? A team at ORIGINS, a Munich-based Cluster of Excellence, has demonstrated a mechanism that could have enabled the first RNA molecules to stabilize in the primordial soup. When two RNA strands combine, their stability and lifespan increase significantly.

07/31/2024 Researchers at LMU, the ORIGINS Excellence Cluster, and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) have developed a new model to explain the formation of giant planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The model furnishes deeper insights into the processes of planet formation and could expand our understanding of planetary systems.

07/10/2024 Just like in the past, the PhD students of the ORIGINS excellence cluster gathered for the much-anticipated PhD Days. This year, the three-day workshop was held in the charming “Seminarhaus Grainau,” providing a cozy backdrop for the 32 young scientists to engage in lively discussions about their research in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

05/16/2024 Combining observations of a newly discovered binary star system with sophisticated models of stellar collapse provides important insights into the formation of stellar-mass black holes. An international team, including researchers from the ORIGINS cluster, concludes that stellar black holes can form even without a bright supernova explosion. The energy of the collapse is mainly emitted by light neutrinos with only a small asymmetry, resulting in a small recoil for the newly born black hole.

05/07/2024 On Thursday, 13 June 2024 a new series of lectures will be launched in the planetarium: „Kosmisches Kino“ combines planetarium visualisations with live lectures by researchers.

04/11/2024 The European Research Council (ERC) awards Professor Nora Brambilla an Advanced Grant for her project “EFT-XYZ”. Nora Brambilla is head of the “Theoretical Particle and Nuclear Physics” group at the TUM and founder of the TUMQCD Lattice Collaboration. At the ORIGINS Cluster, she is active in Research Units A (Fundamental Forces and Particles) and B (Particles and Cosmos) as well as Connector 7 (Matter under Extreme Conditions). In her project, Nora Brambilla will investigate the properties of exotic hadrons, so-called XYZ particles, to gain new insights into the strong…

04/04/2024 Scientists at the ORIGINS Ice, Dust, and Sequencing Lab (IDSL) have demonstrated how heat flows through rock fissures could have created the conditions for the emergence of life.