Speaker
Description
"We are faced with convincing evidence that approximately a quarter of the
universe is composed of something whose gravitational effects can be seen
in a variety of astrophysical phenomena, but which we have been unable
to detect and identify in the laboratory. The majority of physicists agree that
this ""dark matter"" (DM) consists of as-yet-undiscovered subatomic
particle(s) that are not included in our Standard Model of particle physics;
the quest to discover its exact nature is among the foremost missions in
modern physics and the greatest treasure hunts in history. Direct DM
searches over the past few decades have been largely focused on Weakly
Interacting Massive Particles with masses much greater than that of the
proton. The absence of any conclusive discovery, along with various
theoretical developments and certain astrophysical observations, has
recently motivated the direct detection community to broaden our
experimental program to search for DM candidates in lower mass ranges.
Solid-state detectors provide many advantages for such searches. This talk
will summarize recent advances in phonon- and ionization-based
semiconductor crystal experiments, cryogenic scintillating calorimeter
experiments, and Charge-Coupled Device experiments. It will also discuss
future prospects and discovery potential for solid-state detectors with
respect to various low-mass DM candidates, including dark photons,
axion-like particles, and lightly-ionizing particles."
External references
- 24060006
- 90a1c686-f297-4113-9a02-9042a5b1d301
