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High Energy Phenomenology Seminar: Carlos Blanco (Princeton) "New directions for the detection of light dark matter"

Event Type
Seminar/Symposium
Sponsor
Department of Physics
Location
Room 464
Date
Apr 7, 2023   11:00 am  
Speaker
Carlos Blanco
Contact
Brandy Koebbe
E-Mail
BKOEBBE@ILLINOIS.EDU
Views
22

 Dark matter remains one of the central mysteries of cosmology and particle physics. Here, I introduce a new set of strategies in the search for the universe's missing mass. I will present a series of recent theoretical developments that predict that molecules and nano-materials are optimal targets to use in next-gen detectors looking for dark matter beyond the weak scale. I will show that molecular detectors can be sensitive to the direction of the dark matter wind, producing daily-modulating signals. Additionally I will show that semiconducting nano-crystals (quantum dots) can produce inherently low-noise signals following dark-matter induced excitations.  Finally, I will advocate for the further development of the theoretical formalism underlying these novel strategies and comment on emerging collaborations that aim to rapidly develop and deploy these promising detectors.

 
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