RUI: Theories of Dark Matter and Baryogenesis Confront Experiment

RUI：暗物质和重子发生理论面对实验

• 批准号: 2310770
• 负责人: David Tucker-Smith
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Williams College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310770&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Theories; Dark; Matter; Baryogenesis

This RUI award funds the research activities of Professor David Tucker-Smith at Williams College. Despite its spectacular successes, the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics fails to address certain questions of fundamental importance. The SM has nothing to say about the nature of dark matter, a mysterious component of our universe that has played a crucial role in its evolution. Nor does the SM shed light on matter-antimatter asymmetry: if the SM were the whole story, virtually identical quantities of particles and antiparticles produced by the big bang would have annihilated each other nearly completely, leaving too little behind to form the structures around today (galaxies, people, and so on). In his work, Professor Tucker-Smith will explore theories of dark matter and matter-antimatter asymmetry, with a focus on understanding how these theories can be tested at existing and planned experiments. Research on these topics advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in an essential direction: learning about the makeup of our universe and the physical laws that govern it. Significant broader impacts of this project will come from undergraduate involvement. By engaging in this research, Williams College students will learn important ideas, results, and methods relating to particle physics and cosmology. They will also develop broadly applicable skills through activities that will include computer programming, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, and oral presentation of research findings.In more technical terms, Professor Tucker-Smith will conduct research in physics beyond the Standard Model along the following four directions. First, he will develop and study freeze-in baryogenesis models in which dark matter interacts with the Standard-Model Higgs particle. Second, he will perform detailed Monte Carlo studies of the collider phenomenology of electroweak-charged "portal" particles that appear in freeze-in baryogenesis models and many others. Third, he will assess how Lyman-alpha forest surveys and other cosmological observations constrain scenarios with multiple non-cold dark-matter particles. Finally, he will carry out a comprehensive study of a model of electroweak baryogenesis in which dark matter plays a central role in asymmetry generation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该RUI奖资助威廉姆斯学院的大卫塔克-史密斯教授的研究活动。 尽管粒子物理学的标准模型（SM）取得了巨大的成功，但它未能解决某些具有根本重要性的问题。SM对暗物质的性质没有任何说明，暗物质是我们宇宙的一个神秘组成部分，在其演化中发挥了至关重要的作用。 SM也没有揭示物质-反物质的不对称性：如果SM是整个故事，大爆炸产生的几乎相同数量的粒子和反粒子几乎完全相互湮灭，留下的东西太少，无法形成今天的结构（星系，人等等）。在他的工作中，塔克-史密斯教授将探索暗物质和物质-反物质不对称的理论，重点是了解如何在现有和计划的实验中测试这些理论。 对这些主题的研究通过促进科学在一个重要方向上的进步来促进国家利益：了解我们宇宙的构成和支配它的物理定律。 这个项目的重大影响将来自本科生的参与。通过从事这项研究，威廉姆斯学院的学生将学习重要的思想，结果和方法有关粒子物理学和宇宙学。此外，他们亦会透过电脑程式设计、统计分析、撰写论文及口头报告等活动，发展广泛适用的技能。以较专业的术语来说，Tucker-Smith教授会按以下四个方向进行标准模型以外的物理研究：沿着。 首先，他将开发和研究冻结重子生成模型，其中暗物质与标准模型希格斯粒子相互作用。 其次，他将进行详细的蒙特卡罗研究的电弱带电的“门户”粒子，出现在冻结重子模型和许多其他的对撞机现象。 第三，他将评估莱曼-阿尔法森林调查和其他宇宙学观测如何限制多个非冷暗物质粒子的场景。 最后，他将对暗物质在不对称性产生中发挥核心作用的电弱重子生成模型进行全面研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。