physics

Stefano Profumo

Stefano Profumo is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stefano Profumo rather than just read about it. In short: Stefano Profumo (born 25 January 1978) is an Italian-American theoretical physicist and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He works on particle dark matter, high-energy astrophysics, and black hole physics.

Key takeaways

Stefano Profumo belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stefano Profumo to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stefano Profumo from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stefano Profumo (born 25 January 1978) is an Italian-American theoretical physicist and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He works on particle dark matter, high-energy astrophysics, and black hole physics. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. and a recipient of the 2009 Department of Energy's Outstanding Junior Investigator Award.

Early life and education Profumo studied physics at the University of Pisa (B.Sc., 2001) and theoretical physics at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (M.Sc., 2001). He earned a Ph.D. in elementary particle theory at the SISSA–ISAS in Trieste, Italy, in 2004. He subsequently held postdoctoral appointments at Florida State University (2004–2005) and the California Institute of Technology (2005–2007).

Academic career Profumo joined the faculty of the Department of Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2007 as an assistant professor. He became associate professor with tenure in 2011 and full professor in 2015. Since 2015 he has served as director of graduate studies in the physics department, and in 2024 he was appointed Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs in the Physical and Biological Sciences Division. He has also been serving as Deputy Director for Theory at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics since 2011. Profumo's research covers particle physics beyond the Standard Model, models of baryogenesis, and astro-particle physics including dark matter searches, high-energy astrophysical phenomena, and black hole physics. His work has been often featured in the popular press.

Publications Profumo is the co-author of the invited review "Dark Matter" in the Review of Particle Physics (with Laura Baudis, 2020–present). His textbook An Introduction to Particle Dark Matter was published by World Scientific in 2017. He is also the author of Advanced Physics Problems and Solutions, Volume 1: Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods, and Advanced Physics Problems and Solutions, Volume 2: Electricity and Magnetism, Quantum Mechanics, and Statistical Mechanics, both published by World Scientific in the Advanced Textbooks in Physics series. As of 2025, his work has been cited more than 42,000 times, with an h-index of 83, according to Google Scholar.

Selected publications L. Baudis and S. Profumo, "Dark Matter," Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics 2020, 083C01 D. Hooper and S. Profumo, "Dark matter and collider phenomenology of universal extra dimensions," Physics Reports 453, 29 (2007) G. Arcadi, M. Dutra, P. Ghosh, M. Lindner, Y. Mambrini, M. Pierre, S. Profumo and F. S. Queiroz, "The waning of the WIMP? A review of models, searches, and constraints," European Physical Journal C 78 (2018) 203 S. Profumo, "Dark baryon black holes", Phys.Rev.D 111 (2025) 9, 095010 S. Profumo, "Dark matter from quasi–de Sitter horizons", Phys.Rev.D 112 (2025) 2, 023511

Awards and honors Fellow of the American Physical Society (2020) DOE Outstanding Junior Investigator Award (2009) University of California, Santa Cruz Excellence in Teaching Award (2010) University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate Mentoring Award (2023)

Professional service He was a founding editor and is the Editor-in-Chief of Physics of the Dark Universe, he is Editor-in-Chief of Astrophysical Frontiers, he is on the editorial board of Asymmetry and of Particles in the Phenomenology and Physics Beyond the Standard Model section, he is a section board member in the Particles journal (Astroparticle Physics & Cosmology section); He also serves on the editorial board of Physical Review Letters.

References

External links UCSC Physics UCSC Press Release on Profumo's recent solo papers Cosmos Magazine on Profumo's work

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stefano Profumo

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stefano Profumo claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stefano Profumo before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stefano Profumo ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stefano Profumo

In research: Stefano Profumo appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stefano Profumo in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stefano Profumo is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1978 births, 21st-century American physicists, 21st-century Italian physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stefano Profumo outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stefano Profumo in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stefano Profumo means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stefano Profumo out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stefano Profumo in simple terms?

Why does Stefano Profumo matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stefano Profumo?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stefano Profumo.