DrSerena Giardino

I am a Research Associate at the Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics. I work on understanding the fundamental nature of gravity and its implications for the evolution of our universe.

Only 5% of the universe's energy and matter is directly observable. The remaining 95% is observed only indirectly from gravitational effects. Our understanding of this puzzling "dark sector" (20% dark matter, 75% dark energy) therefore depends on our understanding of gravity itself. Einstein gravity is the best working theory so far, but it requires unknown dark energy to explain the universe's accelerating expansion. Moreover, recent observations show dark energy evolves in time, a remarkable feature that cannot be explained within the standard cosmological model, built on Einstein gravity. What appears to be dark energy might be an unaccounted-for deviation from Einstein gravity on the largest cosmological distances. This is why I work on exploring how small modifications of Einstein gravity might explain the accelerated expansion without dark energy.

In addition to research, I am involved in teaching, co-supervision and seminar and journal club organization.

Beyond that, I am engaged in mentoring the younger generation of scientists (especially young women in physics), providing equal opportunities and sharing the enthusiasm for physics through many outreach events. I am also interested in science policy and science diplomacy.