Dark Matter and New Physics

该奖项资助了犹他大学教授Paolo Gondolo和Pearl Sandick的研究。宇宙中超过80%的物质的性质是未知的。发现这种所谓的暗物质的本质是物理学、天体物理学和宇宙学中一个悬而未决的重大问题。暗物质只能通过它产生的引力来探测到，它具有与任何其他已知物理物质完全不同的特性。确定暗物质的本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移开，这一次是通过将构成人类的物质降级为少数成分。这一领域的研究通过促进科学在其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，Gondolo教授和Sandick教授的目标是进一步加深我们对暗物质的理解，以及我们根据暗物质的可观测效应对暗物质模型进行分类的能力。该项目还预计将产生更广泛的重大影响，包括教育和激励当地非学术界对科学的认识，以及培训早期职业科学家。该项目还将支持在当地科学博物馆和当地学校开展的一项长期成功的推广计划，该计划将吸引数千名年轻学生，以一种有趣、充满活力和吸引人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系列推广和专业发展项目，支持在物理科学领域招募和留住有才华的女性和少数族裔的努力。从技术上讲，冈多洛教授和桑迪克教授将开展具有共同元素的个人研究项目。他们将(a)探索宇宙中暗物质的理论解释，以及超越粒子物理标准模型的新粒子物理理论；(b)更好地理解有关计算中的假设和固有的不确定性；(c)确定并提出可靠的策略，以识别暗物质和其他潜在的新物理。这些目标将通过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的现象学研究，开发用于解决一般弱相互作用大质量粒子（WIMP）模型的DarkSUSY软件，以及通过与天体物理学无关的方法和一般相互作用拉格朗日量在暗物质的粒子物理学和天体物理学中追求最少数量的假设来实现。

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.