South SFV Today

The Center for Decoding the Universe at Stanford University, launched in October, aims to tackle fundamental questions about the universe through an interdisciplinary partnership between Stanford Data Science (SDS) and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC). This new center is part of five faculty-led centers at SDS that combine various disciplines with data science expertise.

Risa Wechsler, KIPAC director and professor of physics, leads the center alongside co-director Susan Clark. They emphasize the growing role of advanced statistics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning in astronomy. "We have a lot of fun advantages in astronomy in that we have a lot of data, and they are increasingly complex," Wechsler noted.

The center benefits from vast amounts of astronomical data. SLAC researchers recently developed the world's largest digital camera for astronomy as part of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. This camera will capture 15 terabytes of data each night over the next decade.

Susan Clark highlighted the challenges posed by this data influx: "On the astrophysics side of things, we are in a data revolution." The collaboration seeks to leverage machine learning tools to analyze these large datasets effectively.

Emmanuel Candès, SDS faculty director, expressed enthusiasm about interdisciplinary collaboration: "There are big problems in astrophysics... Together we can do more than if we just work in silos on these issues."

The center's research addresses key questions about dark matter and cosmic expansion. Wechsler emphasized their importance: "We want to use those data to answer the most fundamental questions about the universe."

Clark's research focuses on understanding interstellar phenomena using multimodal light measurements. She stated: "To have the clearest picture... you want to observe your galaxy in many different ways."

The center held its first quarterly forum in October and plans further events to foster collaboration among astrophysicists and data scientists. A conference is scheduled for May 2025.

Clark concluded by highlighting innovation through cross-disciplinary dialogue: "We're all solving little pieces... that could really be the key to sparking some innovation."