Campus Announcements

Spencer Change, from the University of Oregon, will speak on "Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments and Inelastic Dark Matter."

Abstract:

In this talk, I will give an introductory overview of dark matter direct detection experiments, a class of underground experiments searching for dark matter in our galaxy. There is an elegant dark matter framework called the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), which suggests a detectable scattering cross section for dark matter off target nuclei. An overview of interesting past and future experiments will be given, focusing on a longstanding observation by the DAMA experiment of an annual modulation that is suggestive of dark matter. I will review both dark matter and background explanations of this modulation. In particular, I will show that cosmic ray muons, which are known to modulate, cannot be solely responsible for the signal.  As a potential signal, I will discuss a scenario where the dark matter inelastically scatters with nuclei, which I will show is still allowed by current limits and should be tested in the near future.

Tags

Department Seminars