Vasiliki PAVLIDOU - Mapping the Milky Way: how a 3D atlas of our Galactic home can pave the way for new Physics and Astrophysics
Vasiliki PAVLIDOU
University of Crete, Institute of Astrophysics, FORTH
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
1:30pm — ConfIV room - 24 rue Lhomond 75005 PARIS
Mapping the Milky Way: how a 3D atlas of our Galactic home can pave the way for new Physics and Astrophysics
More than just our cosmic “you are here” dot, the Milky Way is the environment that gave rise to the solar system, the Earth, and life itself, as well as the lens through which we obsere the Universe at large. Yet, despite being embedded within it, we still know surprisingly little about the true 3D structure of its components, which distort our view of both distant galaxies and of the local astrophysical metabolism. This problem hinders progress for both astrophysics and fundamental physics, as the luminous objects both inside and beyond the Milky Way are the tracers of the dark scaffolding of the cosmos, which lies beyond our standard models of particle physics, gravity, and cosmology. Combining latest and upcoming astronomical data with algorithms drawing from information field theory, our team is creating a self-consistent, uncertainty-aware 3D map of all Galactic components. This atlas can help illuminate key questions in cosmology, in the physics and astrophysics of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, and in the physical and chemical processes taking place throughout the interstellar medium - the arena of the transition from nuclei and atoms to complex prebiotic and transbiotic chemistry.