Dr Matthew Szydagis: UFOs, Dark Matter & The Science of UAP

Dr. Matthew Szydagis, an experimental physicist at the University at Albany SUNY, conducts searches for dark matter with the LZ detector while also applying data-driven methods to unidentified aerial phenomena through groups such as UAPX and the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies. His perspective draws direct parallels between the two fields: both involve rare, hard-to-detect signals that were once dismissed outright, and both require patient, multi-year instrumentation rather than quick confirmation.

Dark matter work as a template for UAP study

Szydagis builds and operates large liquid-xenon detectors placed deep underground to shield them from cosmic rays. The goal is to record an extremely low-rate interaction that would reveal the nature of dark matter, whose existence is inferred from galactic rotation curves and cosmological data but remains unidentified. The same habits transfer to UAP: emphasis on calibrated sensors, background subtraction, reproducible triggers, and metadata that survives later scrutiny. He notes that colleagues in mainstream particle physics often view UAP work as outside the culture, yet the underlying experimental discipline is identical.

What counts as usable evidence