Physics & Astronomy Colloquium – Fall 2019 – Scherrer

Speaker: Robert Scherrer (Vanderbilt University)

Title: New Directions in Dark Matter

Abstract:

The nature of dark matter remains one of the enduring mysteries of modern cosmology.  While the evidence for dark matter continues to be overwhelming, all searches for dark matter have come up empty so far, and the standard WIMP (weakly-interacting massive particle) paradigm is showing signs of strain.  A lot of new ideas (and a few old ones) are (back) on the table, and I will talk about some of these recent theoretical developments.  I will conclude with a discussion of models in which dark matter can be deadly (the “death by dark matter” scenario).

Speaker Homepage: Link