Investigations on Dark Matter and Dark Energy

暗物质的识别和对暗能量的理解是物理学、天体物理学和宇宙学中尚未解决的主要问题之一。这项提议中概述的研究从以下几个方面解决了暗物质的本质问题：(1)了解弱相互作用质量粒子(WIMP)的湮灭是否以及如何影响宇宙中第一批恒星的形成；(2)将中性诺暗物质的质量和相互作用性质与最小的暗物质结构的大小联系起来，这种结构可以通过伽马射线发射观测到；(3)计算可靠地评估多TeV中性星及其可观测信号所需的量子辐射修正；(4)维护和更新用于中性诺暗物质计算的DarkSuSY代码；(5)研究WIMP的定向直接探测，目的是最大限度地提取WIMP的天体物理信息；(6)检测银河系晕潮流暗物质含量，并着眼于它们可能的探测。这项提议的更广泛的教育组成部分是，PI寻求继续与当地一家博物馆合作开展的基础物理公共演示非常成功的外展项目。

The identification of dark matter and the understanding of dark energy are among the major open questions in physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. The research outlined in this proposal addresses the question of the nature of dark matter in the following ways: (1) understanding if and how the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) affected the formation of the first stars in the universe; (2) connecting the mass and interaction properties of neutralino dark matter to the size of the smallest dark matter structures, which may be observable through gamma-ray emission; (3) computing the quantum radiative corrections necessary for a reliable evaluation of the density of multi-TeV neutralinos and their observable signals; (4) maintaining and upgrading the DarkSUSY code for neutralino dark matter calculations; (5) studying directional direct detection of WIMPs with the goal of extracting the maximum amount of information on the astrophysics of WIMPs; (6) examining the dark matter content of tidal streams in the Milky Way halo, with an eye on their possible detection. The broader educational component of this proposal is that the PI seeks to continue a very successful outreach program of public demonstrations on basic physics that has been taking place in collaboration with a local museum.