Ad Astra White Paper: A Pitch for the Next 25 Years of NASA's Physics of the Cosmos Program
astro-ph.IM, astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.HE
Submitted: 2026-08-31
Updated: 2026-08-31
Comments: First version submitted ahead of the Ad Astra September workshop. Feedback welcome
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: Astrophysical observations of our universe have been key to our understanding of how the universe works.
Terminology
Abstract
Astrophysical observations of our universe have been key to our understanding of how the universe works. Shortly after the turn of the millennium, the National Research Council delivered Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century. In the subsequent quarter-century, we have made substantial progress in answering each question. These advancements have, in part, arisen because of the success of major US facilities across several domains of physics, guided by long-term planning documents which still largely focus on these questions. This report seeks to provide a status update on each question, and to outline what space-based facilities are crucial for future progress, intended to guide NASA's preparatory work for the Astro2030 Decadal.
Sources
- CMB-S4 Science Book, First Edition
- Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), Far Detector Technical Design Report, Volume II: DUNE Physics
- The Spectroscopic Stage-5 Experiment
- LiteBIRD Mission Overview after Mission Reformation
- Searches for Light Dark Matter and Evidence of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering of Solar Neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment
- Gamma-ray Transient Network Science Analysis Group Report
- Science with the Global Cosmic-ray Observatory (GCOS)
- Multidisciplinary Science in the Multimessenger Era
- Exploring the Quantum Universe: Pathways to Innovation and Discovery in Particle Physics
- LuSEE 'Night': The Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment
- LISA Definition Study Report
- The Frontiers of Nuclear Science, A Long Range Plan
- An Acceleration is Worth a Hundred Thousand Phase Space Measurements
- Cosmology with the SPHEREX All-Sky Spectral Survey
- Cosmological preference for a positive neutrino mass at 2.7 sigma: A joint analysis of DESI DR2, DESY5, and DESY1 data
- Possible Evidence For Dark Matter Annihilation In The Inner Milky Way From The Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope
- Hyper-Kamiokande Design Report
- Enduring Quests-Daring Visions (NASA Astrophysics in the Next Three Decades)
- A new NASA Pioneer: the Globe Orbiting Soft X-ray Polarimeter (GOSoX)
- Habitable Worlds Observatory: The Nature of the Astrophysical r-process
Related papers
- A signal dedispersion algorithm for imaging-based transient searches
- AVICA: A fully automated CASA pipeline for large volume VLBI data calibration
- Spectral Map Making with SPHEREx
- Long-Integration Magnetar Burst Observatory (LIMBO): Instrument Summary and Early FRB Rate Constraints
- Towards independent event horizon imaging of the supermassive black holes in M87 and the Milky Way
- A PINK update: Improvements to the CELEBI fast radio burst data reduction and analysis pipeline