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CoEPP-CAASTRO Workshop 2014

→ Australia/Victoria
Stawell

Stawell

Seppelt Winery, 36 Cemetery Road, Great Western, Victoria 3374 Australia
Kim Dorrell (CAASTRO), Winnie Huang (The University of Melbourne)
Description

This dark matter workshop is the second joint workshop between CoEPP and CAASTRO. This workshop is a follow up from the first bilateral ITA-AUS workshop on particle physics held at COEPP in July 2012 where, in a joint declaration, it was resolved, in the light of dark matter searches underway in the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, to pursue the potential for a southern hemisphere partner to these efforts in Australia. It was suggested that a suitable site may be found considering the prevalence of mining in Australia.

Slides
Support
  • Monday 29 September
    • 1
      Housekeeping & Welcome
      Speakers: Ms Kate Gun, Oscar Moze
    • 2
      Detecting Dark Matter: Overview, Issues, and Perspectives
      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.
      Speaker: Chris Savage
      Slides
    • 3
      Collider Constraints
      Speaker: Nicole Bell (University of Melbourne)
    • 10:45
      Morning Tea
    • 4
      Optical Surveys and Dark Matter
      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.
      Speaker: Tamara Davis
    • 5
      What I think about when I think about dark matter
      Speaker: Raymond Volkas (The University of Melbourne)
    • 12:15
      Lunch
    • 6
      Galactic and subgalactic problems with dark matter
      Speaker: Manoj Kaplinghat
      Slides
    • 7
      Measurements of the CMB polarization
      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.
      Speaker: Christian Reichardt
      Slides
    • 8
      Dark Matter Halos and Cosmic Evolution
      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]
      Speaker: Katie Mack
      Slides
    • 15:30
      Afternoon Tea
    • 9
      Exploring the high-energy Universe with neutrinos in IceCube
      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.
      Speaker: Gary Hill
    • 10
      Indirect searches for dark matter with gamma-rays
      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.
      Speaker: Gavin Rowell
    • 11
      Great Planes of Dwarfs: A challenge for cosmology?
      Speaker: Geraint Lewis
    • Posters Session
      • 12
        Annihilating Dark Matter and the Central Galactic Gamma Ray Excess in Natural Supersymmetry
        Speaker: Mr Timonthy Trott
      • 13
        Can the entire dark sector be dissipative?
        Speaker: Mr Sunny Vagnozzi
      • 14
        Dark Matter Annihilation in Early Halos
        Speaker: Ms Sarah Schon
      • 15
        Dark matter self-annihilation and its impact on the intergalactic medium and early galaxy formation
        Speaker: Ms Cassandra Avram
      • 16
        Generic DM Models Confronting GC Gamma-ray Excess
        Recently, Daylan et al. re-analyzed data from the Fermi-LAT and found excess flux of Gamma-rays from the direction of the Galactic Center. They concluded that the 1~3 GeV Gamma-ray signal is statistically significant and appears to originate from dark matter particles annihilating rather than standard astrophysical sources (T. Daylan, D. P. Finkbeiner, D. Hooper, T. Linden, S. K. N. Portillo, N. L. Rodd and T. R. Slatyer, arXiv:1402.6703 [astro-ph.HE]). Inspired by the excess of Gamma-rays from the Galactic Center, we confront a series of simplified dark matter models with experimental data. Assuming a single dark matter particle coupled to standard matter via a spin-0 mediator, we compare Majorana fermion, real scalar and real vector dark matter candidates. We consider dark matter annihilation into various fermionic final states contributing to the observed differential Gamma-ray flux. Using Bayesian inference we confine the mass and couplings strengths of the dark matter and mediator particle. Our results show that, if the Gamma-ray excess is due to dark matter the above parameters are well constrained by the measurements including Gamma-ray, relic density and direct detection
        Speaker: Mr Tong Li
      • 17
        Leptophilic Dark Matter with Z' Interactions
        Speaker: Ms Rebecca Leane
  • Tuesday 30 September
    • 18
      Experimental review concentrating on Gran Sasso
      A review of the Dark Matter experiments at Gran Sasso National Laboratory will be given
      Speaker: Stefano Ragazzi
    • 19
      WIMPs and their direct searches
      This session is TBC
      Speaker: Antonio Masiero
    • 20
      Results form the first DarkSide-50 argon run
      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_
      Speaker: Davide D'Angelo (Universita' degli Studi Milano)
      Slides
    • 21
      Detecting DM annual modulation with SABRE
      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.
      Speaker: Davide D'Angelo (Universita' degli Studi Milano)
      Slides
    • 10:55
      Morning Tea
    • 22
      Stella: The facility for low background techniques at LNGS
      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.
      Speaker: Claudia Tomei (INFN)
    • 23
      The mine: measurements of the background and working environment
      Speakers: Elisabetta Barberio (University of Melbourne (AU)), Dr Matteo Volpi (University of Melbourne (AU))
    • 12:15
      Lunch (Breakout Group: Mine Testing, Depth, Costs)

      Breakout Group: Mine Testing, Depth, Costs

    • 24
      Axions and WISP
      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.
      Speaker: Stephen Parker
    • 25
      Annual and diurnal modulation signals with mirror dark matter
      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.
      Speaker: Robert Foot
    • 26
      Thermal dark matter and new physics below 100 TeV
      Speaker: Csaba Balazs (Monash University)
      Slides
    • 15:00
      Discussion and Afternoon Tea: Next steps in collaboration with INFN

      Discussion: Next steps in collaboration with INFN

    • 27
      Summary document
      Speaker: Discussion
    • 16:45
      Bus departs for Melbourne
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