12–17 Oct 2015
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics
Asia/Kolkata timezone

Lecture 1: Dark Matter Detection-I

12 Oct 2015, 10:00
1h 15m
Meghnad Saha Auditorium (Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics)

Meghnad Saha Auditorium

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

1/AF Bidhannagar, Salt Lake, Sector-1, Kolkata - 700064, India

Speaker

Prof. Victor Zacek

Description

The quest for the mysterious missing mass of the Universe has become one of the big challenges of today's particle physics and cosmology. Astronomical observations show that only 1% of the matter of the Universe is luminous. Moreover there is now convincing evidence that 85% of all gravitationally observable matter in the Universe is of a new exotic kind, different from the "ordinary" matter surrounding us. In a series of three lectures we discuss past, recent and future efforts made world- wide to detect and/or decipher the nature of Dark Matter. In Lecture I we review our present knowledge of the Dark Matter content of the Universe and how experimenters search for it's candidates; In Lecture II we discuss so-called "direct detection" techniques which allow to search for scattering of galactic dark matter particles with detectors in deep-underground laboratories; we discuss the interpretation of experimental results and the challenges posed by different backgrounds; In Lecture III we take a look at the "indirect detection" of the annihilation of dark matter candidates in astrophysical objects, such as our sun or the center of the Milky Way; In addition we will have a look at efforts to produce Dark Matter particles directly at accelerators and we shall close with a look at alternative non- particle searches and future prospects.

Presentation materials