The Mitchell Conference on Collider, Dark Matter, and Neutrino Physics 2022

Session

Astrophysics

May 26, 2022, 1:30 PM

Conveners

Astrophysics

• Kimberly Boddy (University of Texas at Austin)

7. The Primordial Black Holes Variations

Stefano Profumo

5/26/22, 1:30 PM

In the age of gravitational wave astronomy, the possibility that some of the black holes in the universe have a primordial, rather than stellar origin, and that they might be a non-negligible fraction of the cosmological dark matter, is quite intriguing. I will review the status of the field, and comment on search strategies and future prospects for detection across many decades in black hole...

20. The viability of ultralight bosonic dark matter in dwarf galaxies

Isabelle Goldstein (Brown University)

5/26/22, 1:53 PM

The dark matter distribution in dwarf galaxies holds a wealth of information on the fundamental properties and interactions of the dark matter particle. We study whether ultralight boson dark matter is consistent with the gravitational potential extracted from stellar kinematics. We use velocity dispersion measurements from six classical dwarf galaxies to show that axion-like particles with...

57. Dark Matter Annihilations in Massive Stars: A New Lease on Life?

Joshua Ziegler

5/26/22, 2:16 PM

Stars whose initial mass is between approximately 150 and 240 M$_\odot$ face a fate of complete explosion in a pair instability supernova (PISN). However, by injecting energy into the star, it may be possible in some cases to avoid this fate. We outline conditions on this energy injection which can lead to the survival or incomplete explosion of the star, and we discuss how dark matter...

56. Dark Sector Insights with Upcoming CMB Observations

Joel Meyers (Southern Methodist University)

5/26/22, 2:39 PM

Observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have played an essential role in shaping our understanding of the history, evolution, and contents of the universe. CMB surveys planned over the next decade will map the microwave sky with unprecedented precision. I will discuss how these forthcoming observations will provide characteristically new insights into particle physics and...

58. CMB birefringence from ultra-light axion string networks

Andrew Long (Rice University)

5/26/22, 3:02 PM

If ultra-light axion-like particles exist in nature, they might manifest themselves as a cosmological axion string network that fills the universe today. Such a string network is expected to leave a distinctive imprint on the polarization pattern of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. A coupling between axions and electromagnetism causes a photon’s plane of polarization to rotate as...

24. Deep learning the astrometric signature of dark matter substructure

Prof. Savvas Koushiappas (Brown University)

I will discuss the application of machine learning techniques for the detection of the astrometric signature of dark matter substructure. In this simple proof of principle example, a population of dark matter subhalos in the Milky Way act as lenses for sources of extragalactic origin. We show that machine learning applied to an SKA -like survey can be used to probe the substructure content of...