The mission of the institute is to advance astrophysical research by building a strong international group of researchers who can collaborate in a flexible and creative environment.

The institute, an internal research division of the Spin Foundation: a community of scientists who are working to advance our understanding of the universe.

The main pillars on which the island institute is built are:

www.spin-foundation.org

OUR PILLARS

FREEDOM

BREAKTHROUGH

VISIONARY

COMMUNITY

MENTORING

we want scientists

to focus on science.

the whole environment

of the institute is design to do so

the institute wants to move

past the usual rules and way of

doing things to focus on the

future

we aspire to foster breakthrough

advances in fundamental physics

because young talents need a

push and help to become the

great scientists of tomorrow.

to make great science you need

great people working together.

the community is at the heart of

the island institute

The Island: a research institute

cosmology

Spin foundation

research

Research

The Island institute focuses on 3 main areas of research in Cosmology, as well a Discovery project for ground breaking and visionary challenges.

Cosmology from the Moon

Cosmological experiments will reach in the next decade the limits of what can be done with current technologies and observables.

The next step will require a revolutionary improvement: we suggest that the right strategy is to take advantage of the reborn interest by several countries (and space agencies) for the Moon, and build a radio array on the far side of the Moon, to observe the so-called dark ages of the Universe.

At the TII we are setting up a team of researchers devoted to both understand the details of the technological challenges and the scientific opportunities presented by such project.

Multi-probe observations and the future of cosmology

The cosmology landscape in the next decade will include several new experiments that will allow galaxy surveys to reach full maturity, new observations of the cosmic microwave background, and the newly born field of gravitational wave astronomy will deliver a plethora of new observations and insights for astrophysics and cosmology.

However, it is important to avoid progress to be just incremental, and truly revolutionary progress requires the combination of different datasets. Co-analyzing observations from different experiments will set up the future state-of- the-art of cosmological studies. Combined datasets will be more powerful than the simple addition of the catalogs, providing ways to keep systematic errors under control and enabling new tests that will otherwise not be possible. Examples of these measurements include cross-correlation of different types of galaxies in a wide range of cosmic epochs, lensing magnification of background objects by foreground sources, tests of gravity in previously unprobed regimes, obtaining redshift information of radio continuum sources and the combination of galaxy and gravitational wave maps to investigate the nature and evolution of black holes and dark matter.

The ensemble of forthcoming surveys taken together will naturally provide multi-messenger surveys of the full sky, offering a combination of different windows into the Universe.

At the TII we propose to co-analyze and co-interpret the view of the universe through these different windows, opening up new unexplored opportunities for capitalizing on the synergies of multi-probe cosmology. We will assemble a team of theoretical and observational cosmologists, paired with astrophysicists and data scientists in order to develop an optimal methodology to co-analyze multi-probe data. For combined datasets the dimensionality of the parameter space is increased and the output of this project will be the development of novel techniques to understand where most of the information is located.

The Physics of the early Universe

Understanding the physical mechanisms acting during the early Universe represent an important topic across different fields of physics.

Studies of observables such as the microwave, gravitational and infrared cosmological backgrounds and the overall distribution of galaxies across the sky, allow us to understand properties and processes active right after the Big Bang.

Given the nature of the TII, we will not only use these observations to test models of cosmological inflation, the formation of primordial black holes and genera properties of the standard cosmological model, but we will also investigate deep and speculative models.

We plan to fund a program of theoretical research to consider possible relics left from previous eras in a cyclic cosmology or imprints of a multiverse. We will support a team of cosmologists and theoretical physicists to think about innovative ways to test those hypotheses and to connect them with the realm of measurements.

THE DISCOVERY PROJECT

THE CHRONOS

AN INVESTIGATION ON THE NATURE OF TIME AND GRAVITY

THE GROUP

The Group

The Island Institute group is composed of international affiliated scholars that come together during quarterly organised collaborative workshops.

The group is delocalised and scholars can be based everywhere in the world. In our mind, to do great research you need an environment that you love and fits your need.

The institute also has some more local interactions with office spaces available for postdocs and young fellows.

The Scholars