Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and New Physics

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the research activities and outreach/community-engagement programs of Professors Paolo Gondolo and Pearl Sandick at the University of Utah. The nature of more than 70% of the energy in the universe and of more than 80% of its matter is unknown. The nature of this so-called "dark energy" and "dark matter" is a major open question in physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Dark matter and dark energy have currently been detected only by means of the gravity they generate. Establishing the nature of dark matter and dark energy may have implications as wide as the Copernican revolution that moved the Earth's place in the Universe away from its center, this time by relegating the material substance of which humans are made to a minority component. Research in this area advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental aspects: discovering the nature and composition of our physical universe. In their research, Professors Gondolo and Sandick aim to further our understanding of dark matter and advance our ability to sort various proposed theoretical ideas on the basis of their observable effects. They also aim to further our understanding of dark energy by exploring novel gravitational systems with components of the same nature. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. These include educating and exciting the local non-academic community about science as well as training early-career scientists. This project will also support a longstanding and successful outreach program at a local science museum and in local schools --- a program that reaches thousands of young students with the goal of attracting them to science in a fun, energetic, and engaging way --- so as to ultimately increase the number of responsible citizens and leaders who can address the major issues of our time with basic scientific knowledge. At the same time, this project supports efforts to recruit and retain talented women and minorities in the physical sciences through a suite of outreach and professional-development programs at the University of Utah, in the broader community, and at the national level. Technically, Professors Gondolo and Sandick will conduct individual research programs with elements in common. They will (a) explore theoretical explanations for the dark matter and dark energy in the Universe and for theories of new particle physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics; and (b) determine and suggest robust strategies for the identification of dark matter and, potentially, other new physics. These objectives will be achieved in many ways: through phenomenological studies of collider and dark-matter signatures in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and in other simplified models, the development of the DarkSUSY software to cover generic weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) models, the pursuit of a minimal number of assumptions in the particle physics and astrophysics of dark matter (specifically astrophysics-independent methods and general interaction lagrangians), and the analysis of general-relativistic self-gravitating systems with negative pressure (a characteristic of dark energy). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.