ASP Online Seminars: Searching for the Universe’s Dark Matter

Tuesday 29 Jul 2025, 13:00 → 14:30 UTC

Abstract:

An astonishing conclusion of modern cosmology is that approximately 85% of the matter in our universe exists in an invisible and yet-to-be-discovered form known as dark matter. Identifying its true nature remains one of the most urgent and compelling questions in contemporary physics. Across the globe, numerous experiments are racing to detect dark matter, employing a wide range of detection technologies and approaches. Among them is LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), the U.S. flagship dark matter direct detection experiment, located nearly a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. LZ employs a dual-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber (LXe-TPC) to search primarily for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), one of the most well-motivated dark matter candidates.

In this talk, I will begin by reviewing the astrophysical evidence for dark matter and the leading theoretical candidates. I will then describe several direct detection strategies, with a focus on the LXe-TPC technique used by LZ. Finally, I will present recent world-leading results from LZ and conclude with an outlook on the future of dark matter research.

Bio of the speaker:

Dr. Alvine Kamaha is an assistant professor of Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she holds the inaugural Keith and Cecilia Terasaki Endowed Chair in Physical Sciences. She is the 2024 recipient of the Edward A. Bouchet Award from the American Physical Society (APS). Prof. Kamaha’s research focuses on experimental astroparticle physics, particularly the search for dark matter. She is a leading member of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment—one of the U.S. flagship dark matter searches—and is involved in the development of the next-generation XLZD experiment. At UCLA, she is establishing a test facility to pursue R&D in low-background techniques and xenon detector calibration.