US-France Cooperative Research: Dark Matter Research

这一为期三年的奖项支持加州大学伯克利分校的NSF粒子天体物理科学与技术(STC)和法兰西学院的Physique Corpusculaire实验室在天体物理学方面的美法合作研究。美国和法国的研究团队由伯克利STC主任Bernard Sadoulet和法国团队负责人Yannick Giraud-Heraud领导。具体地说，将为伯克利STC附属的高级美国研究生和博士后研究人员前往法国提供支持。美国和法国的团队将专注于暗物质的基本问题，这是天体物理学研究中最优先考虑的话题。有证据表明，宇宙的90%或更多是由暗物质组成的，这种物质可能是可以追溯到宇宙开始时的粒子形式。暗物质问题的研究对于理解宇宙的起源和物质的基本性质具有重要的意义。在这个项目中，美国和法国的团队将以弱相互作用粒子的形式或以大质量天体物理致密晕对象的形式对暗物质进行实验性搜索。

This three-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in astrophysics between the NSF Science and Technology (STC) for Particle Astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire at the College de France. The U.S. and French research teams are led by Bernard Sadoulet, Director of the STC at Berkeley, and Yannick Giraud-Heraud, leader of the French group. Specifically, support will be provided to advanced U.S. graduate students and postdoctoral researchers affiliated with the Berkeley STC for their travel to France. The U.S. and French teams will focus on the fundamental problem of dark matter, a topic identified as the highest priority in astrophysics research. Evidence indicates that 90% or more of the Universe is made of dark matter, and that this matter may be in the form of particles dating back to the beginning of the Universe. The study of the dark matter problem has important implications for understanding the origin of the Universe and the fundamental nature of matter. In this project, the U.S. and French teams will perform experimental searches for dark matter either in the form of weakly interactive particles or in the form of massive astrophysical compact halo objects.