Intersections Between Dark Matter and Neutrinos

该奖项资助芝加哥洛约拉大学沃尔特·坦加里夫教授的研究活动。粒子物理学中最耐人寻味的两个谜题是暗物质的性质和中微子质量的起源。暗物质是宇宙的主要组成部分，其对星系和其他天体的影响可以由物理学家测量，但暗物质的其他性质尚不清楚。中微子是在所谓的“粒子物理标准模型”中被描述为无质量的粒子。然而，实验表明，虽然中微子确实非常轻，但它们并不是无质量的。在他的研究中，坦加里夫教授的目标是探索中微子物理和暗物质问题交织在一起的可测试模型。对这些主题的研究通过研究支配宇宙的定律来促进基础科学的进步，从而促进了国家利益。预计该项目还将产生更广泛的重大影响。坦加里夫教授将让本科生参与他的研究，为他们提供在学术和工业职业生涯中都非常有用的关键技能。他还打算就他的研究成果进行公开演讲，并在当地社区的高中组织外联活动。更技术性的是，坦加里夫教授将研究存在自我相互作用的kev无菌中微子暗物质模型。新的相互作用增强了生产机制，并提供了在包括沙丘在内的下一代实验中探索的信号。此外，自相互作用的稀薄中微子是自相互作用暗物质的良好候选者，这可能与小结构现象有关。该项目还将研究狄拉克暗物质模型，在该模型中，暗物质参与了标准模型中微子质量的产生。其目标是限制重子数和轻子数之间的差异是规范对称性的情景。这些模型的现象学将受到暗物质探测实验、暗光子搜索和宇宙边界的限制。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award funds the research activities of Professor Walter Tangarife at Loyola University Chicago.Two of the most intriguing puzzles in particle physics are the nature of dark matter and the origin of neutrino masses. Dark matter is a major ingredient of the Universe whose effects on galaxies and other astrophysical objects can be measured by physicists, but no other property of dark matter is yet known. Neutrinos are particles that are described as massless within the so-called "Standard Model of particle physics". However, experiments have shown that while neutrinos are indeed incredibly light, they are not massless. In his research, Professor Tangarife aims to explore testable models in which neutrino physics and the dark-matter problem are intertwined. Research in these topics advances the national interest by promoting the progress of fundamental science through investigation of the laws that govern the universe. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. Professor Tangarife will involve undergraduate students in his research, providing them with critical skills of great utility in both academic and industrial careers. He also intends to give public lectures on his research results and organize outreach events in high schools within the local community. More technically, Professor Tangarife will investigate models of keV sterile-neutrino dark matter in the presence of self-interactions. New interactions enhance the production mechanism and provide signals to be probed in next-generation experiments, including DUNE. Additionally, self-interacting sterile neutrinos make good candidates for self-interacting dark matter, which may be relevant for small-structure phenomena. This project will also study Dirac dark-matter models in which the dark matter participates in the generation of masses for the Standard-Model neutrinos. The goal is to constrain scenarios in which the difference between baryon and lepton numbers is a gauge symmetry. The phenomenology of such models will be constrained by dark-matter detection experiments, dark-photon searches, and cosmological bounds.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.