{"guid":"5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","title":"Killing the astrophysical chameleon","subtitle":null,"slug":"emf2026-246-1-killing-the-astrophysical-chameleon","link":"https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/246-killing-the-astrophysical-chameleon","description":"Astronomical observations show that our universe is expanding faster and faster in all directions due to something we call ‘dark energy’ – but what exactly is it? There are many theories out there, and astrophysicists have an unlikely ally in the search – atomic physicists like myself. As part of my PhD research, I used lasers to trap and cool atoms to use as tiny sensors to search for new physics, including searching for evidence of a specific dark energy candidate, the chameleon field. In this talk I will give an overview of the physics behind dark energy and my experiment, explain how atomic physics experiments have applications across all sorts of fields, and why even though I ended up measuring zero, that’s still moving science forward. \n\nNote: no actual chameleons were harmed in the making of this talk.\n\nLicensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","original_language":"eng","persons":["Bryony Lanigan"],"view_count":26,"promoted":false,"date":"2026-07-19T11:30:00.000+02:00","release_date":"2026-07-19T00:00:00.000+02:00","updated_at":"2026-07-25T02:00:03.644+02:00","tags":["24601","2026","emf2026","talk","Stage C","emf2026-eng","Day 4"],"length":1760,"duration":1760,"thumb_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/emf/2026/24601-5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391.jpg","poster_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/emf/2026/24601-5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391_preview.jpg","timeline_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/emf/2026/24601-5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391.timeline.jpg","thumbnails_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/emf/2026/24601-5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391.thumbnails.vtt","frontend_link":"https://media.ccc.de/v/emf2026-246-1-killing-the-astrophysical-chameleon","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","conference_title":"Electromagnetic Field 2026","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/emf2026","related":[],"recordings":[{"length":1760,"mime_type":"video/mp4","language":"eng","filename":"emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_hd.mp4","state":"new","folder":"h264-hd","high_quality":true,"width":1920,"height":1080,"updated_at":"2026-07-19T13:14:13.199+02:00","label":"eng 1080p","size":772,"recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/emf/2026/h264-hd/emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_hd.mp4","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/102920","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/emf2026"},{"length":1760,"mime_type":"video/mp4","language":"eng","filename":"emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_sd.mp4","state":"new","folder":"h264-sd","high_quality":false,"width":720,"height":576,"updated_at":"2026-07-19T14:47:21.718+02:00","label":"eng 576p","size":162,"recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/emf/2026/h264-sd/emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_sd.mp4","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/102982","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/emf2026"},{"length":1760,"mime_type":"audio/mpeg","language":"eng","filename":"emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_mp3.mp3","state":"new","folder":"mp3","high_quality":false,"width":0,"height":0,"updated_at":"2026-07-19T14:55:36.035+02:00","label":"eng","size":27,"recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/emf/2026/mp3/emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_mp3.mp3","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/102985","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/emf2026"},{"length":1760,"mime_type":"audio/opus","language":"eng","filename":"emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_opus.opus","state":"new","folder":"opus","high_quality":false,"width":0,"height":0,"updated_at":"2026-07-19T14:56:03.087+02:00","label":"eng","size":18,"recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/emf/2026/opus/emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_opus.opus","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/102986","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/emf2026"},{"length":1760,"mime_type":"video/webm","language":"eng","filename":"emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_webm-sd.webm","state":"new","folder":"webm-sd","high_quality":false,"width":720,"height":576,"updated_at":"2026-07-19T15:09:32.669+02:00","label":"eng 576p","size":76,"recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/emf/2026/webm-sd/emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_webm-sd.webm","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/102992","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/emf2026"},{"length":1760,"mime_type":"video/webm","language":"eng","filename":"emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_webm-hd.webm","state":"new","folder":"webm-hd","high_quality":true,"width":1920,"height":1080,"updated_at":"2026-07-19T15:16:30.073+02:00","label":"eng 1080p","size":364,"recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/emf/2026/webm-hd/emf2026-24601-eng-Killing_the_astrophysical_chameleon_webm-hd.webm","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/102995","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/5794e166-97ca-5a6e-a3fb-02756734e391","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/emf2026"}]}