KECK INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES

       

Shedding Light on the Nature of Dark Matter

July 13-24, 2009
California Institute of Technology - Pasadena, CA 91125

Workshop Overview:

Nearly one quarter of the mass and energy budget of the Universe is in the form of "dark matter," whose existence is made clear by its gravitational imprint on galaxies, galaxy clusters, and even on the cosmic microwave background. Dark matter is likely comprised of one or more particles that are speculated on, but are not yet known. There are many particle candidates for dark matter drawn from several distinct theoretical ideas.

Each of these candidates may be detected by different experimental setups, some direct and some indirect, based on the nature and properties of the particle. There have recently been some tantalizing observations that may be related to such detections.

Furthermore, each of these candidates may lead to different observable consequences on a dizzying range of astronomical scales. Some of these include measurements of small-scale dark matter structure in the Milky Way and beyond, and the dynamics of colliding galaxy clusters.

This leads to the goals of this mini-program, to bring together diverse theoretical and observational perspectives on dark matter particle candidates and their properties, their astrophysical expressions, and the observations today and in the future that may solve the problem of the nature of dark matter.

Workshop Participants:

  • Kevork Abazajian - University of Maryland
  • Andrew Benson - Caltech
  • Andrew Blaine - Caltech
  • Marusa Bradac - UC Davis
  • Dan Coe - JPL/Caltech
  • Art Congdon - JPL/Caltech
  • Ross Fadely - Rutgers University
  • Jonathan Feng - UC Irvine
  • Marla Geha - Yale University
  • Rudy Gilmore - UC Santa Cruz
  • Sunil R Golwala - Caltech
  • Tesla Jeltema - UCO/Lick Observatories
  • Marc Kamionkowski - Caltech
  • Manoj Kaplinghat - UC Irvine
  • Chuck Keeton - Rutgers University
  • Savvas M. Koushiappas - Brown University
  • Mike Kuhlen - UC Berkeley
  • Richard Massey - The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
  • Leonidas A Moustakas - JPL/Caltech
  • Ricardo R. Munoz - Yale University
  • Priya Natarajan - Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study & Yale University
  • Annika Peter - Caltech
  • Joel R. Primack - University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Stefano Profumo - University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Jason D Rhodes - JPL/Caltech
  • Kris Sigurdson - University of British Columbia
  • Josh Simon - Observatories of the Carnegie Institute of Washington
  • Daniel K Stern - JPL/Caltech
  • Louie Strigari - Stanford
  • James E. Taylor - University of Waterloo
  • Dmitriy Tseliakhovich - Caltech
  • Huitzu Tu - UC Irvine
  • Risa Wechsler - Stanford University
  • Hai-Bo Yu - UC Irvine

Workshop Presentations

Leonidas Moustakas
JPL/Caltech

Setting the Stage
(.pdf)
(video)

Andrew Benson
Caltech

Summary to date and setting the stage for Week 2
(.pdf)

Marusa Bradac
UC Davis

Dark Matter from Large Scale Lensing
(.pdf)

Dan Coe
JPL/Caltech

SLAM - Synthesized Constraints on Dark Matter
(.pdf)

Jonathan Feng
UC Irvine

Recent Developments in Particle Dark Matter
(.pdf)
(video)

Tesla Jeltema
UCO/Lick Observatories

Fermi and More...
(.pdf)

Manoj Kaplinghat
UC Irvine

Imprints of BSM Physics on Small Scale Structure
(.pdf)

Chuck Keeton
Rutgers University

The Views from Strong Lensing
(.pdf)

Mike Kuhlen
Institute for Advanced Study

Simulations Now and in the Future
(.pdf)

Annika Peter
Caltech

SLAM - Dark Matter Behavior on the Smallest Scales (Solar System ++)
(.pdf)

Joel Primack
UCSC

The Canonical Framework
(.pdf)
(video)

Stefano Profumo
UC Santa Cruz

Fermi and More...
(.pdf)

Louie Strigari
Stanford

Dark Matter Dominated Objects
(.pdf)

Louis Strigari
Stanford

DISCUSSION: Direct Detection
(.pdf)