About the Project (Outreach)

COSMOROM is a research project that aimed to explore the fundamental laws that govern our Universe by combining modern cosmology with advanced tools from machine learning and statistics. Supported by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in Romania (European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions), the project was carried out at the University of Brasov over a period of two years.

The main scientific question behind COSMOROM was: What is the true nature of dark matter and dark energy? These mysterious components make up about 95% of the Universe, yet we still don't fully understand what they are. The project investigated alternative theories of gravity—beyond Einstein's general relativity — to see which ones best match the latest astronomical observations.

What we did

  • Developed a general mathematical framework to test new theories of gravity against cosmological data.
  • Applied machine learning (neural networks) to analyze and model the structure and evolution of the Universe.
  • Integrated new theoretical models into public scientific software, freely available to the research community.
  • Presented findings at international conferences and workshops across Europe and Asia.
  • Collaborated with top researchers worldwide to produce publications on black holes, modified gravity, and cosmology.

    • Key Achievements

  • Published multiple scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals on dark energy, cosmological perturbations, and gravity.
  • Created new simulation tools and code to test alternative models of the Universe.
  • Showed that some models can help explain the Hubble tension—a major open problem in cosmology.
  • Maintained a project website to keep the public and scientific community updated on results and progress.

    • Why it Matters

    Understanding the origin and fate of the Universe is one of humanity's greatest scientific challenges. COSMOROM pushed the boundaries of cosmology by using new theoretical insights and computational tools to explore these questions.

    In addition to advancing knowledge, the project helped train early-career researchers in cutting-edge techniques and fostered collaborations across Europe and Asia that will continue to grow in the future.