Phone: (773) 702-0597
Location: ERC 481, ERC 499E
Email: rocky.kolbuchicago.edu
WWW: Web Site

Rocky's mostly interested in the applications of particle physics to the early universe. He claims to do this in order to discover answers to truly fundamental questions, such as the Top Ten Questions about the Universe:
10. What came before the big bang?
9. What is outside the Universe?
8. Where is the center of the Universe?
7. Is there intelligent life elsewhere?
6. Is there intelligent life here?
5. Is there a parallel Universe?
4. Is there a perpendicular Universe?
3. Can you parallel park in a perpendicular Universe?
2. Will the Cubs win the series before the end of time?
1. Are we responsible for this on the final exam?

Ongoing Scientific Projects:

• Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)

Past Students

GRADUATE: Michael Fedderke (2017), Alissa Bans (2013), Zosia Krusberg (2011), Valentin Kostov (2010)

2019 | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006


Latest Journal Publications

1. "Dibaryons cannot be the dark matter", Physical Review D, Volume 99, Issue 6, id.063519 (Mar 2019)
2. "Gravitational production of super-Hubble-mass particles: an analytic approach", Journal of High Energy Physics, Volume 2019, Issue 1, article id. 189, 23 pp (Jan 2019)
3. "Superheavy dark matter through Higgs portal operators", Physical Review D, Volume 96, Issue 10, id.103540 (Nov 2017)
4. "Irruption of massive particle species during inflation", Physical Review D, Volume 91, Issue 6, id.063505 (Mar 2015)
5. "Gamma-ray constraints on dark-matter annihilation to electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 01, article id. 001, (2014) (Jan 2014)
6. "Dark matter coupling to electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons: An effective field theory approach", Physics of the Dark Universe, Volume 2, Issue 4, p. 200-218 (Dec 2013)
7. "Cosmological data and indications for new physics", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 10, article id. 030, (2013) (Oct 2013)
8. "Probing dark matter couplings to top and bottom quarks at the LHC", Physical Review D, vol. 88, Issue 6, id. 063510 (Sep 2013)
9. "Backreaction of inhomogeneities can mimic dark energy", Classical and Quantum Gravity, Volume 28, Issue 16, id. 164009 (2011) (Aug 2011)
10. "Impact of general reionization scenarios on extraction of inflationary parameters", Physical Review D, vol. 82, Issue 12, id. 123527 (Dec 2010)
11. "Maverick dark matter at colliders", Journal of High Energy Physics, Volume 2010, article id. #37 (Sep 2010)
12. "Cosmological background solutions and cosmological backreactions", General Relativity and Gravitation, Volume 42, Issue 6, pp.1399-1412 (Jun 2010)
13. "Harrison-Zel'dovich primordial spectrum is consistent with observations", Physical Review D, vol. 81, Issue 12, id. 123509 (Jun 2010)
14. "Deducing the nature of dark matter from direct and indirect detection experiments in the absence of collider signatures of new physics", Physical Review D, vol. 80, Issue 4, id. 043509 (Aug 2009)
15. "Reopening the window on charged dark matter", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 07, pp. 014 (2009) (Jul 2009)
16. "Description of our cosmological spacetime as a perturbed conformal Newtonian metric and implications for the backreaction proposal for the accelerating universe", Physical Review D, vol. 78, Issue 10, id. 103002 (Nov 2008)
17. "Latest inflation model constraints from cosmic microwave background measurements: Addendum", Physical Review D, vol. 78, Issue 8, id. 087302 (Oct 2008)
18. "Light-cone averages in a Swiss-cheese universe", Physical Review D, vol. 77, Issue 2, id. 023003 (Jan 2008)
19. "Cosmological observables in a Swiss-cheese universe", Physical Review D, vol. 76, Issue 12, id. 123004 (Dec 2007)
20. "Trans-Planckian wimpzillas", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 07, pp. 005 (2007) (Jul 2007)

Latest Conference Proceedings

1. "The Inner Space/Outer Space Connections: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Inflation and All That", American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #314.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011 (Jan 2011)
2. "Back Reactions and Dark Energy", INVISIBLE UNIVERSE: Proceedings of the Conference. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1241, pp. 162-172 (2010) (Jun 2010)
3. "Latest inflation model constraints from cosmic microwave background measurements", Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplements, Volume 194, p. 86-90 (Oct 2009)
4. "Dark Energy", KEK COSMOPHYSICS GROUP INAUGURAL CONFERENCE ``ACCELERATORS IN THE UNIVERSE'': Interplay between High Energy Physics and Cosmophysics. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1040, pp. 3-17 (2008) (Aug 2008)

Past Visitors:

1. Rouven Essig, Stony Brook University (2019)
2. Yonatan Kahn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2019)
3. Nicole Larsen, AAAS/US Department of Defense (2019)
4. Patrick McCarthy, GMTO (2019)
5. Martina Gerbino, Stockholm University, KICP (2018)
6. Rosen Rachel, Columbia University (2018)
7. Rachel Rosen, Columbia University (2018)
8. Rainer Dick, University of Saskatchewan (2017)
9. Matteo Biagetti, University of Geneva (2015)
10. Martina Gerbino, University of Rome 'Sapienza' (2015)
11. Laura Salvati, University of ''Sapienza'', Rome, Italy (2015)
12. Murli Verma, University of Lucknow (2015)
13. Ed Copeland, University of Nottingham (2013)
14. Matthew Colless, Australian Astronomical Observatory (2012)
15. Gordon Kane, University of Michigan (2012)
16. Andreas Albrecht, University of California, Davis (2011)
17. Laura Baudis, University of Zurich (2011)
18. William Kinney, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York (2011)
19. Alberto Vallinotto, Los Alamos National Laboratory (2011)
20. Kollmeier Juna, Carnegie Institution of Washington (2010)
21. Syksy Rasanen, University of Geneva (2010)
22. Valerio Marra, Padua University (2008)
23. Dan Hooper, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (2007)