Shedding Light On Dark Matter With GAPS

Searching for New Physics Using an Antarctic Balloon-Based Experiment

Kaliroe Pappas, Post-doctoral Research Scientist, Columbia University
Kelsey Yee, Physics Graduate Student, MIT

The unknown nature of dark matter is one of the most important open questions in physics. Overwhelming observational evidence indicates that the matter we are familiar with—stars, planets, and gas—makes up only a small fraction of the Universe. Most of the matter is an invisible form known as “dark matter,” whose gravitational influence is essential for holding galaxies and larger cosmic structures together. The nature of dark matter remains a mystery in spite of decades of dedicated experimental searches. The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is the first experiment optimized to search for cosmic antideuterons as a “smoking gun” signature of dark matter interactions in the universe. GAPS is also sensitive to antiprotons in an unexplored energy range. GAPS successfully completed a 25 day balloon journey over Antarctica in December 2025 and January 2026.

Come on a journey with us to Antarctica and learn about the challenges of launching a 6000 pound experiment into space, as well as the science behind searching for signatures of the notoriously elusive dark matter that makes up most of our universe.

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Upcoming talks:
Thu May 7 – Flying High to Catch Neutrinos and Other Extreme Particles

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Nevis Laboratories of Columbia University
136 S. Broadway
Irvington, NY 10533