RUI: New Directions in Dark Matter and Cosmology

Lafayette College, Easton PA

Investigators

Abstract

Recent advances in particle physics and astronomy, including the discovery of gravitational waves, have provided a trove of new observational data about the universe we inhabit and the matter it contains. The research supported by this grant focuses on developing novel methods of extracting information about the history of our universe from this data and applying these results in order to address fundamental unanswered questions such as how the spatial distribution of matter within our universe came to be the way it is and why our universe contains so much more matter than antimatter. One particular aim of this research is to better understand the origin and properties of the "dark matter" in our universe - an as-yet mysterious form of matter that neither emits nor absorbs light, but nevertheless makes its presence felt via its gravitational pull on normal, visible matter. A significant portion of this award will support undergraduate involvement in these research topics, thereby cultivating interest among the next generation of scientists and honing their computational skills. The program of research supported by this award is organized around two main themes. One of these themes is to investigate novel methods for uncovering information about the dark sector of our universe and distinguishing between different dark-matter scenarios. Scenarios involving non-minimal dark-sectors are of particular interest, since the characteristic experimental signatures of dark matter in such scenarios are often qualitatively different from those typically associated with minimal dark sectors, and less thoroughly studied. The other theme is to investigate how departures from the minimal picture of early-universe cosmology - departures involving, for example, additional cosmological phase transitions, additional unstable degrees of freedom, or additional dynamics related to cosmic inflation or reheating - can be probed or constrained by observation. This research theme involves identifying novel ways in which observational data - concerning, for example, the matter power spectrum or the properties of the cosmic microwave background - can be used to reveal information about early-universe dynamics. 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.