About

Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology is located at Ajdovščina, a historic town in the central part of the wine producing Vipava valley, which stands at the location of the Roman fortress Castra ad Fluvium Frigidum in an Ancient Roman defensive system Claustra Alpium Iuliarum. The Vipava valley (100m a.s.l. is positioned between the ridge of Trnovski gozd (1500 m a.s.l.) and the Karst plateau (500 m a.s.l.), bringing Mediterranean climate about 30km inlands from the Adriatic coast.

Vipava valley from the Trnovski gozd plateu with lit bonfires. The Bay of Trieste can be seen on the horizon. The bonfires originate from an old Slavic tradition to to celebrate the arrival of Spring. Photo: Jurij Lavrenčič.

Our research is focused on astroparticle physics, high-energy and multi-messenger astrophysics. Complementary studies of the phenomena on the extremely large and the extremely small scales via astrophysical observations of the Universe have shown to provide a more complete, unified picture of matter and its interactions. We strive to combine the information carried by different cosmic messengers, such as charged cosmic particles, photons, neutrinos and gravitational waves and thus, by investigating a “bigger picture”, contribute to better understanding of physical processes in the Universe.

Our activities as a rule take place within experimental international research collaborations and are focused on the searches of extremely energetic astrophysical sources, transient astrophysical phenomena, dark matter and possible mechanisms responsible for the matter – anti-matter asymmetry in the Universe.

The group consists of nine professors, six PhD students and three postdocs. CAC members teach courses at the School on Science and the Graduate school.