Housekeeping & Welcome

• Oscar Moze
• Kate Gun

Detecting Dark Matter: Overview, Issues, and Perspectives

• Chris Savage

With overwhelming evidence via gravitational observations that the preponderance of mass in the universe is in a new, unseen, and as-yet undetermined form of matter, the quest is on to identify this "dark" matter. A new type of particle(s) is the leading candidate for this dark matter. I will discuss various particle candidates, with a focus on those that have a small (weak), but non-zero interaction with ordinary matter. The three main modes of detecting such particles---collider, direct, and indirect searches---and their current status will be presented. I will discuss various issues to be addressed and provide my perspectives on the future of the dark matter field.

Collider Constraints

• Nicole Bell (University of Melbourne)

Optical Surveys and Dark Matter

• Tamara Davis

A new generation of large astronomical surveys is getting underway. I'll briefly talk review some of the major upcoming optical surveys, (with a bias towards those with Australian-participation), and the kinds of information about dark matter that they might provide. I'll focus on the Dark Energy Survey (which despite the name will also have something to say about dark matter), OzDES, SkyMapper, KiDS, DESI, and 4MOST.

What I think about when I think about dark matter

• Raymond Volkas (The University of Melbourne)

Galactic and subgalactic problems with dark matter

• Manoj Kaplinghat

Measurements of the CMB polarization

• Christian Reichardt

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is revolutionizing our understanding of the Universe. The CMB is the strongest single piece of evidence that we live in a geometrically flat Universe, dominated by non-baryonic cold dark matter and dark energy. Many outstanding questions remain around this basic framework: Did inflation occur, and what physics was responsible for it? What is dark energy? What are the neutrino masses? Are there new particle species that we can detect cosmologically? Remarkably the CMB can shed light on all of these questions. I will give an overview of the state of CMB polarization experiments, and then focus on the latest results from two specific CMB polarization experiments: SPTpol and PolarBear. I will also discuss the forecasts for upcoming experiments.

Dark Matter Halos and Cosmic Evolution

• Katie Mack

Dark matter annihilation, decay, or other particle interactions have the potential to affect early structure formation by injecting energy into local gas. I will discuss major unsolved problems relevant to the abundance and structure of dark matter halos, and how these uncertainties affect predictions of dark matter's influence over cosmic time. [Paper: arXiv:1309.7783]

Exploring the high-energy Universe with neutrinos in IceCube

• Gary Hill

The kilometre-scale IceCube detector has been fully operational for several years, and has already met one design goal with the discovery of a flux of high-energy neutrinos (~60 TeV - 2 PeV) coming from beyond our solar system. The next step is to determine the nature of the sources - likely a mix of galactic and extra-galactic, and to continue to explore other science with IceCube, including searches for potential dark matter signatures.

Indirect searches for dark matter with gamma-rays

• Gavin Rowell

I will review the recent results of indirect searches for dark matter using space-based and ground-based gamma-ray facilities. My talk will conclude with a look at the future prospects for HESS-II and CTA in dark matter studies.

Great Planes of Dwarfs: A challenge for cosmology?

• Geraint Lewis

Experimental review concentrating on Gran Sasso

• Stefano Ragazzi

A review of the Dark Matter experiments at Gran Sasso National Laboratory will be given

WIMPs and their direct searches

• Antonio Masiero

This session is TBC

Results form the first DarkSide-50 argon run

• Davide D'Angelo (Universita' degli Studi Milano)

DarkSide-50 (DS-50) at Gran Sasso underground laboratory, Italy, is a direct dark matter search experiment based on a TPC with liquid argon from underground sources. The DS-50 TPC, with 50 kg of active argon and a projected fiducial mass of >33 kg, is installed inside an active neutron veto based on a boron-loaded organic scintillator. The neutron veto is built inside a water cherenkov muon veto. DS-50 has been taking data since Nov 2013, collecting more than 2e7 events with atmospheric argon. This data represents an exposure to the largest background, beta decays of Ar-39, comparable to the full three-year run planned for DS-50 with underground argon. When analyzed with a threshold that would give a sensitivity in the full run of about 1e-45 cm^2 at a WIMP mass of 100 GeV/c^2, there is no Ar-39 background observed. The detector design and performance will be presented as well as results from the atmospheric argon run still in progress. Plans for the underground argon run and for a ton-scale detector within the same neutron veto vessel will be presented._x000D_ _x000D_

Detecting DM annual modulation with SABRE

• Davide D'Angelo (Universita' degli Studi Milano)

SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) is a new NaI(Tl) experiment designed to test the DAMA/LIBRA claim for a positive WIMP-dark matter annual modulation signal. SABRE will consist of highly pure NaI(Tl) crystals in an active liquid scintillator veto that will be placed deep underground. The scintillator vessel will provide a veto against external backgrounds and those arising from detector components, especially the 3 keV signature from the decay of 40K in the crystal. It will therefore allow for a sensitive measurement of the 40K levels in the crystals as they are developed. Through the use of the veto and crystal purification techniques, we aim for a 40K background 10 times lower than that of the DAMA/LIBRA experiment. The Neutron Veto of the DarkSide experiment provides a natural environment for testing the crystals.

Stella: The facility for low background techniques at LNGS

• Claudia Tomei (INFN)

Particle physics experiments searching for rare events such as neutrino interactions, neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter, have to fight against background of different origin. Besides building the experiments in a deep underground site, it is extremely important to shield against environmental backgrounds and to minimise the intrinsic radioactive contaminations of the experimental setup by carefully selecting radiopure materials. This is the main motivation for a facility for low background techniques at LNGS, the underground laboratory of INFN in Italy. In this talk we describe the main background sources that affect particle experiments in a deep underground site and the material screening techniques and other low background activities carried out at LNGS, outlining the present status and possible future improvements.

The mine: measurements of the background and working environment

• Elisabetta Barberio (University of Melbourne (AU))
• Matteo Volpi (University of Melbourne (AU))

Axions and WISP

• Stephen Parker

Axions and WISPs are compelling dark matter candidates with sub-eV masses. I will provide an overview of direct detection efforts, focusing primarily on the most mature and promising approach involving resonant cavity structures. I will also discuss previous work performed at The University of Western Australia and our plans for the future.

Annual and diurnal modulation signals with mirror dark matter

• Robert Foot

The possible annual and diurnal signals expected in a direct detection experiment located in the southern hemisphere are discussed in the context of mirror dark matter.

Thermal dark matter and new physics below 100 TeV

• Csaba Balazs (Monash University)

Summary document

• Discussion