Dark matter direct searches
Seminar on 15 May 2018 at DFA Aula F h 15.30
Dark matter direct searches
Prof. Jose Matias-Lopes
University of Coimbra, Portugal
Abstract
One of the major challenges of modern physics is to decipher the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical observations provide ample evidence for the existence of an invisible and dominant mass component in the observable universe. The dark matter could be made of new, yet undiscovered elementary particles, with allowed masses and interaction strengths with normal matter spanning an enormous range. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) represent a well-motivated class of candidates. They could be directly observed via scatters off atomic nuclei in underground, ultra low-background detectors, or indirectly, via secondary radiation produced when they pair annihilate. They could also be generated at particle colliders such as the LHC, where associated particles produced in the same process are to be detected.