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.

Team Leads

  • Leonidas Moustakas

    Leonidas Moustakas

    Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  • Andrew Benson

    Andrew Benson

    California Institute of Technology

  • 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

Presentations

Speaker Affiliation Presentation
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)