Cosmin Ilie

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Cosmin Ilie

Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Department/Office Information

Physics and Astronomy

410 Ho Science Center

T 1:00pm - 4:00pm (410 Ho Science Center)

Contact

I use computational methods, data analysis, and forecasting techniques to connect experiments and theory in cosmology. My work focuses primarily on Dark Matter and its potential observable signatures. For example, I have explored how Dark Matter affects the formation of the first stars in the Universe. One of the most striking consequences we find is that they can become as massive as a million suns. Those enormously bright objects, formed during the cosmic dawn era, could potentially be detected by the . In fact, in 2023 we have identified the first three Dark Star candidates: My work on this subject has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals and was popularized in magazines such as , , , to name a few. This media coverage has reached a potential audience of well over a billion people.

Current research interests, in addition to those listed above, include the exploration of Dark Matter in non standard cosmological histories, and the effects Dark Matter captured by compact astrophysical objects has on their evolution.

Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2011

R. Casey(’24), C. Ilie Dark sector tunneling field potentials for a dark big bang

C. Ilie. Closed form expressions for Dark Matter capture rates.

C. Ilie, C. Levy (’23), J. Diks (’25). The effectiveness of exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs as sub-GeV Dark Matter detectors.

S. Zhang, C. Ilie, K. Freese. Detectability of Supermassive Dark Stars with the Roman Space Telescope. 2024

C. Ilie, J. Paulin('23), K. Freese. "Supermassive Dark Star Candidates Seen by JWST."

C. Ilie, J. Paulin ('23). "The Effect of Stellar Velocity on Dark Matter Capture and Detection with Population III Stars."

C. Ilie, C. Levy ('23). "Multi-component multiscatter capture of Dark Matter."

C. Ilie, C. Levy('23), J. Pilawa('20), S. Zhang('19). "Constraining Dark Matter properties with the first generation of stars."

C. Ilie, C. Levy('23), J. Pilawa('20), S. Zhang('19). "Probing below the neutrino floor with the first generation of stars." 2020 arXiv preprint: (letter companion to PRD 104, 123031)

C. Ilie, J. Pilawa ('20), S. Zhang ('19). Comment on “Multiscatter stellar capture of dark matter.” 2020

C. Ilie, and S. Zhang ('19). Multiscatter capture of superheavy Dark Matter by Pop.III stars. 2019.

C. Ilie. Gamma Ray polarimetry; a new window for the non-thermal Universe. 2019.

M. Eingorn, L. Fernando, B. Vlahovic, C. Ilie, B. Wojtsekhowski, G.M. Urciuoli, F. De Persio, F. Meddi. A High Energy Photon Polarimeter for Astrophysics. 2018.

I. Waldstein, A. Erickcek, and C. Ilie. A Quasi-Decoupled State for Dark Matter in Non- Standard Thermal Histories. <>

B. Vlahovic, M. Eigenhorn, and C. Ilie. Uniformity of CMB as a non-Inflationary Geometrical Effect. 2015.

C. Ilie, K. Freese, M. Valluri, I.T. Iliev, P. Shapiro. Observing Supermassive Dark Stars with James Webb Space Telescope. 2012.

C. Ilie, K. Freese, and D. Spolyar. Dark Stars and Boosted Dark Matter Annihilation Rates. 2011.

K. Freese, E. Ruiz, M. Valluri, C. Ilie, D. Spolyar, P. Bodenheimer. Supermassive Dark Stars: Detectable in JWST and HST. 2010.

K. Freese, C. Ilie, D. Spolyar, M. Valluri, P. Bodenheimer. Supermassive Dark Stars: Detectable in JWST. 2010.

C. Ilie, T. Biswas, and K. Freese. Are we seeing the beginnings of Inflation? 2009.

PHYS 112 Fundamental Physics II

PHYS 131 Atoms and Waves

PHYS 232 Introduction to Mechanics

PHYS 410 Advanced Topics and Experiments

PHYS 414 Astrophysics

PHYS 432 Electrodynamics

PHYS 410 Classical Mechanics

PHYS 456 General Relativity and Cosmology