Dark Matter and New Physics

该奖项资助犹他大学的保罗·贡多罗教授和珀尔·桑迪克教授的研究。宇宙中超过80%的物质的性质是未知的。发现这种所谓暗物质的本质是物理学、天体物理学和宇宙学中的一个重大悬而未决的问题。暗物质只能通过它产生的引力被探测到，并且具有与任何其他已知物理物质完全不同的性质。确定暗物质的性质可能具有与哥白尼革命一样重要的意义，哥白尼革命将地球在宇宙中的位置从中心转移到了宇宙的中心，这一次是通过将构成人类的物质降为少数。这一领域的研究通过促进科学最基本的方面之一的进步来促进国家利益：发现我们物理宇宙的性质和组成。在他们的研究中，贡多罗和桑迪克教授的目标是加深我们对暗物质的理解，以及我们根据可观察到的效应对可行的暗物质模型进行分类的能力。该项目还预计将产生重大的更广泛的影响，包括教育和激励当地非学术界关于科学的知识，并培训职业生涯早期的科学家。该项目还将支持在当地一家科学博物馆和当地学校开展的一项长期且成功的推广计划，该计划覆盖了数千名年轻学生，目的是以一种有趣、充满活力和吸引力的方式吸引他们参与科学。与此同时，该项目通过犹他大学、更广泛的社区和国家层面的一套外展和专业发展项目，支持招募和留住有才华的女性和少数族裔的努力。在技术上，贡多罗和桑迪克教授将开展具有共同要素的个人研究项目。他们将(A)探索宇宙中暗物质的理论解释，以及粒子物理标准模型以外的新粒子物理理论；(B)更好地理解相关计算中固有的假设和不确定性；(C)确定并提出确定暗物质和潜在的其他新物理的可靠战略。这些目标将通过以下方式实现：对最小超对称标准模型和简化模型中的对撞机和暗物质特征进行现象学研究，开发DarkSUSY软件以处理通用的弱相互作用质量粒子(WIMP)模型，以及通过与天体物理无关的方法和一般相互作用滞后对暗物质的粒子物理和天体物理中的最小数量假设进行追求。

This award funds the research of Professors Paolo Gondolo and Pearl Sandick at the University of Utah. The nature of more than 80% of the matter in the universe is unknown. To discover the nature of this so-called dark matter is a major open question in physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Dark matter has been detected only by means of the gravity it generates, and has properties that are completely different from those of any other known physical matter. Establishing the nature of dark matter may have implications as important as the Copernican revolution that shifted the Earth's place in the Universe away from its center, this time by relegating the material substance humans are made of to a minority component. Research in this area advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental aspects: discovering the nature and composition of our physical universe. In their research, Professors Gondolo and Sandick aim to further our understanding of dark matter and our ability to sort viable dark-matter models on the basis of their observable effects. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts, including educating and exciting the local non-academic community about science and training early-career scientists. The project will also support a long-standing and successful outreach program at a local science museum and in local schools that reaches thousands of young students with the goal of attracting them to science in a fun, energetic, and engaging way. At the same time, this project supports efforts to recruit and retain talented women and minorities in the physical sciences through a suite of outreach and professional-development programs at the University of Utah, in the broader community, and at the national level.Technically, Professors Gondolo and Sandick will conduct individual research programs with elements in common. They will (a) explore theoretical explanations for the dark matter in the Universe and for theories of new particle physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics; (b) better understand the assumptions and the uncertainties inherent in the relevant calculations; and (c) determine and suggest robust strategies for the identification of dark matter and, potentially, other new physics. These objectives will be achieved through phenomenological studies of collider and dark-matter signatures in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and in simplified models, the development of the DarkSUSY software to address generic weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) models, and the pursuit of a minimal number of assumptions in the particle physics and astrophysics of dark matter through astrophysics-independent methods and general interaction lagrangians.