Detection of WIMP-like Dark Matter in Some Extensions of the Standard Model
Detection of WIMP-like Dark Matter in Some Extensions of the Standard Model

Author: Andreas Goudelis

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13:

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This thesis treats the detection of dark matter in sorne extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. Dark matter (DM) is a new matter form whose existence was postulated in order to explain a series of cosmological observations that are in disagreement with current theories in particle physics and cosmology. The tirst chapter of this thesis briefly presents sorne basic elements which are indispensible when working on dark matter. ln the second chapter, we discuss the potential DM detection modes and we present sorne original results concerning the capacity of the respective experiments to reconstruct some properties of dark matter candidates. ln the third chapter, we describe a minimal solution to the dark matter problem. The Standard Model of particle physics is slightly extended to accomodate a particle that could constitute the missing mass of the universe and the phenomenology of this particle is studied. ln the fourth chapter, we present a second solution to the dark matter problem, this time much less minimal or economical. The resulting models (which are called supersymmetric) are considerably more complicated. We study the phenomenology of two such examples. Finally, a summary and sorne conclusions form a fifth chapter. Three appendices follow, containing sorne technical elements as well as a certain number of points aiming at corroborating a few arguments given in the main text.

Dark Matter in the Universe
Dark Matter in the Universe

Author: Marc S. Seigar

Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Published: 2015-10-12

Total Pages: 71

ISBN-13: 1681741180

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The study of dark matter, in both astrophysics and particle physics, has emerged as one of the most active and exciting topics of research in recent years. This book reviews the history behind the discovery of missing mass (or unseen mass) in the Universe, and ties this into the proposed extensions to the Standard Model of Particle Physics (such as Supersymmetry), which were being proposed within the same time frame. This book is written as an introduction to these problems at the forefront of astrophysics and particle physics, with the goal of conveying the physics of dark matter to beginning undergraduate majors in scientific fields. The book goes onto describe existing and upcoming experiments and techniques, which will be used to detect dark matter either directly on indirectly.

Dark Matter Signals
Dark Matter Signals

Author: Samuel Joseph Witte

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13:

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A vast number of independent astrophysical and cosmological observations suggest that the dominant form of matter in the Universe, known as dark matter, is neither luminous nor baryonic. Despite nearly half a decade of research, the non-gravitational nature of dark matter, if any, remains a mystery. Motivated primarily by preferred theoretical extensions of the Standard Model and a relatively simple production mechanism, the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) has long been considered to be among the most appealing dark matter particle candidates. This dissertation is comprised of largely independent works that focus on understanding and constraining various signals that could arise from WIMP dark matter. Specifically, Chapters 2 and 3 address the impact that non-standard astrophysics and particle physics could have on the observed scattering rate in direct dark matter detection experiments; Chapter 4 presents a halo-dependent and an halo-independent update on the viability of a dark matter interpretation of the CDMS-II-Si data; Chapter 5 generalizes the halo-independent analysis formalism such that the compatibility of multiple experiments can be assessed, and the preferred halo-independent parameter space can be identified, for global likelihoods comprised of at least one extended likelihood; Chapter 6 discusses the prospects for detecting gamma-rays from dark matter annihilating in local dark matter subahlos; Chapter 7 presents updated constraints on simplified dark matter models that are consistent with the Galactic Center excess; and Chapter 8 discusses the extent to which future direct detection experiments may be able to elucidate the high-energy dark matter theory from observations of low-energy nuclear recoils.

Particle Dark Matter
Particle Dark Matter

Author: Gianfranco Bertone

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-01-07

Total Pages: 763

ISBN-13: 0521763681

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Describes the dark matter problem in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology for graduate students and researchers.

Heavy WIMP Effective Theory
Heavy WIMP Effective Theory

Author: Mikhail P. Solon

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-04-08

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 9783319797502

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This book is about dark matter’s particle nature and the implications of a new symmetry that appears when a hypothetical dark matter particle is heavy compared to known elementary particles. Dark matter exists and composes about 85% of the matter in the universe, but it cannot be explained in terms of the known elementary particles. Discovering dark matter's particle nature is one of the most pressing open problems in particle physics. This thesis derives the implications of a new symmetry that appears when the hypothetical dark matter particle is heavy compared to the known elementary particles, a situation which is well motivated by the null results of searches at the LHC and elsewhere. The new symmetry predicts a universal interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter, which in turn may be used to determine the event rate and detectable energy in dark matter direct detection experiments. The computation of heavy wino and higgsino dark matter presented in this work has become a benchmark for the field of direct detection. This thesis has also spawned a new field of investigation in dark matter indirect detection, determining heavy WIMP annihilation rates using effective field theory methods. It describes a new formalism for implementing Lorentz invariance constraints in nonrelativistic theories, with a surprising result at 1/M^4 order that contradicts the prevailing ansatz in the past 20 years of heavy quark literature. The author has also derived new perturbative QCD results to provide the definitive analysis of key Standard Model observables such as heavy quark scalar matrix elements of the nucleon. This is an influential thesis, with impacts in dark matter phenomenology, field theory formalism and precision hadronic physics.

The Early Universe
The Early Universe

Author: Edward Kolb

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2018-03-08

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 0429972490

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The Early Universe has become the standard reference on forefront topics in cosmology, particularly to the early history of the Universe. Subjects covered include primordial nubleosynthesis, baryogenesis, phases transitions, inflation, dark matter, and galaxy formation, relics such as axions, neutrinos and monopoles, and speculations about the Universe at the Planck time. The book includes more than ninety figures as well as a five-page update discussing recent developments such as the COBE results.

Particles in the Dark Universe
Particles in the Dark Universe

Author: Yann Mambrini

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-09-02

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 3030781399

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This book provides a comprehensive and instructive coverage of particle physics in the early universe, in a logical way. It starts from the thermal history of the universe by investigating some of the main arguments such as Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the inflation, before treating in details the direct and indirect detection of dark matter and then some aspects of the physics of neutrino. Following, it describes possible candidates for dark matter and its interactions. The book is targeted at theoretical physicists who deal with particle physics in the universe, dark matter detection and astrophysical constraints, and at particle physicists who are interested in models of inflation or reheating. This book offers also material for astrophysicists who work with quantum field theory computations. All that is useful to compute any physical process is included: mathematical tables, all the needed functions for the thermodynamics of early universe and Feynman rules. In light of this, this book acts as a crossroad between astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology.

Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment
Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

Author: Kevin Ahmad McCarthy

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13:

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Astrophysical and cosmological measurements on the scales of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the universe indicate that ~85% of the matter in the universe is composed of dark matter, made up of non-baryonic particles that interact with cross-sections on the weak scale or lower. Hypothetical Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, represent a potential solution to the dark matter problem, and naturally arise in certain Standard Model extensions. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) collaboration aims to detect the scattering of WIMP particles from nuclei in terrestrial detectors. Germanium and silicon particle detectors are deployed in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. These detectors are instrumented with phonon and ionization sensors, which allows for discrimination against electromagnetic backgrounds, which strike the detector at rates orders of magnitude higher than the expected WIMP signal. This dissertation presents the development of numerical models of the physics of the CDMS detectors, implemented in a computational package collectively known as the CDMS Detector Monte Carlo (DMC). After substantial validation of the models against data, the DMC is used to investigate potential backgrounds to the next iteration of the CDMS experiment, known as SuperCDMS. Finally, an investigation of using the DMC in a reverse Monte Carlo analysis of WIMP search data is presented. 140.23 kg-days of WIMP search data from the silicon detectors in the CDMSII experiment is also analyzed. The resulting upper limits on the WIMP-nucleon crosssection are higher than those published by other experiments at all WIMP masses, and the lowest limit on the WIMP-nucleon cross-section is 1.07*10-42 cm2 at a mass of 60 GeV/c2. These results do provide new and interesting constraints at WIMP masses

The Theory of Direct Dark Matter Detection
The Theory of Direct Dark Matter Detection

Author: Eugenio Del Nobile

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2022-05-10

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9783030952273

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This book is a pedagogical guide on how to make computations in direct dark matter (DM) detection. The theory behind the calculation of direct detection cross sections and rates is presented, touching aspects related to elementary particle physics, hadronic physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics. The book is structured in self-contained sections, covering several topics ranging from the scattering kinematics to the phenomenology of direct DM searches. It follows a model-independent approach, aiming at providing the readers with all that is needed to understand the theory and start their own analysis. Meant for graduate students and researchers with interests in particle physics and phenomenology, it is enriched with several worked examples from standard and non-standard particle DM models. Senior researchers working in different areas related to dark matter, like particle and nuclear physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, find in this book a useful and updated guide for reference.

Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment
Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13:

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Astrophysical and cosmological measurements on the scales of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the universe indicate that 85% of the matter in the universe is composed of dark matter, made up of non-baryonic particles that interact with cross-sections on the weak scale or lower. Hypothetical Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, represent a potential solution to the dark matter problem, and naturally arise in certain Standard Model extensions. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) collaboration aims to detect the scattering of WIMP particles from nuclei in terrestrial detectors. Germanium and silicon particle detectors are deployed in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. These detectors are instrumented with phonon and ionization sensors, which allows for discrimination against electromagnetic backgrounds, which strike the detector at rates orders of magnitude higher than the expected WIMP signal. This dissertation presents the development of numerical models of the physics of the CDMS detectors, implemented in a computational package collectively known as the CDMS Detector Monte Carlo (DMC). After substantial validation of the models against data, the DMC is used to investigate potential backgrounds to the next iteration of the CDMS experiment, known as SuperCDMS. Finally, an investigation of using the DMC in a reverse Monte Carlo analysis of WIMP search data is presented.