US-France Cooperative Research: Theoretical Implicatons of Dark Matter

这一为期三年的奖项支持加州大学伯克利分校的NSF粒子天体物理科学和技术(STC)与法国里昂高等学院的法国天体物理研究中心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分校物理学教授、STC成员约瑟夫·西尔克和法国研究中心负责人吉勒斯·查布里尔领导。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对粒子暗物质的天体物理约束、候选暗物质粒子的特征以及宇宙中的恒星演化进行理论研究，暗物质可能在其中发挥核心作用。

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 French Center for Astrophysics Research, Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, Lyon, France. The U.S. and French research teams are led by Joseph Silk, Professor of Physics and member of the STC at Berkeley, and Gilles Chabrier, leader of the French center. 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 theoretical investigations of the astrophysical constraints on particle dark matter, the characteristics of candidate dark matter particles, and stellar evolution in the Universe, in which dark matter may play a central role.