Supersymmetry and Dark Matter in the Data Age

该奖项资助犹他大学Pearl Sandick教授的研究活动。有几个令人信服的理由表明，我们目前的粒子物理学标准模型是不完整的，其中最重要的是宇宙中暗物质的本质之谜。Sandick教授的研究涉及粒子物理学标准模型的超对称扩展的理论研究，其中每个标准模型粒子都有一个尚未观察到的“超级伙伴”粒子。即使在最小的超对称模型中，这些超级伙伴中最轻的一个也为暗物质提供了一个自然的解释。目前，实验对许多超对称模型中预测的有趣的可观察现象越来越敏感。总的来说，暗物质搜索和粒子对撞机的实验结果提供了关于描述我们生活的世界的粒子物理学基本理论的见解，但是关于特定理论是被排除还是被数据支持的结论依赖于对其可观测特征的强有力理解。Sandick教授旨在通过在实验特征和产生它们所需的粒子物理模型之间建立明确的联系来提高我们对最小超对称参数空间的理解。作为该项目的一部分，将对不同类型模型复杂性的后果进行广泛研究，强调我们可以从暗物质实验和大型强子对撞机（LHC）等粒子对撞机中学到的关于粒子物理新模型特征的经验教训。主要重点是将对撞机特征与暗物质探测中的特征以及暗物质湮灭和/或衰变的天体物理特征联系起来。这项工作将提高专家的知识，也代表了一个机会，利用广大公众对暗物质和粒子物理学的热情，教育公众关于令人兴奋的进展和该领域的未来，并招募有才华的女性和少数民族从事物理科学。这些更广泛的影响将通过PI参与的一系列推广和专业发展计划来实现。

This award funds the research activities of Professor Pearl Sandick at the University of Utah.There are several compelling reasons to expect that our current Standard Model of particle physics is incomplete, not least of which is the puzzle of the nature of the dark matter in the Universe. Professor Sandick's research involves theoretical investigations of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, in which each Standard Model particle has an as-yet unobserved "superpartner" particle. Even in the most minimal supersymmetric models, the lightest of these superpartners provides a natural explanation for the dark matter. Currently, experiments are becoming sensitive to interesting observable phenomena predicted in many supersymmetric models. Taken together, experimental results from dark matter searches and particle colliders provide insight about the fundamental theory of particle physics that describes the world in which we live, but conclusions about whether a particular theory is excluded or supported by data rely on a robust understanding of its observable signatures.Professor Sandick aims to improve our understanding of minimal supersymmetric parameter spaces by making explicit connections between experimental signatures and the aspects of particle physics models necessary to generate them. As part of this project, extensive studies of the consequences of different types of model complexity will be performed, highlighting the lessons we can learn about the characteristics of new models of particle physics from dark matter experiments and particle colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The main focus is on connecting collider signatures to the signatures in dark matter detection as well as astrophysical signatures from dark matter annihilation and/or decay. This work will advance the knowledge of specialists, and also represents an opportunity to harness the broad public enthusiasm for dark matter and particle physics to educate the public about exciting advances and the future of the field and to recruit talented women and minorities to the physical sciences. These broader impacts will be accomplished through a suite of outreach and professional development programs in which the PI is involved.