Probing Dark Matter Physics throughout Cosmic History

该奖项资助南加州大学(USC)教授Vera Gluscevic的研究活动。代表可见宇宙基石的粒子仅占所有已知存在物质的15%。其余的是暗物质，望远镜是看不见的，几乎主宰着所有的星系。暗物质不能用任何已知的粒子来解释；它的物理性质还有待了解。与此同时，暗物质在宇宙的整个历史中塑造了它，在观测数据中留下了线索。作为研究的一部分，Gluscevic教授将结合宇宙学观测、计算机模拟和分析理论来探索暗物质如何与正常物质相互作用，并了解这些相互作用可能如何影响观测数据。这项研究通过促进科学的进步，特别是我们对我们所生活的宇宙的组成部分的理解，来促进国家利益。这项工作还具有重大的更广泛的社会影响。Gluscevic教授将邀请几名学生和一名博士后参与与这项提议有关的研究项目，为他们提供该领域的基本培训。她还将在南加州大学的女性物理学项目中开设一个专门的讲座系列，以帮助促进STEM的多样性、公平性和包容性，增加联网机会，并加强女性在物理学和天文学领域的归属感。更严格地说，Gluscevic教授的工作的关键目标是开发、实施和应用一种新颖的综合理论框架，利用各种观测来探索暗物质粒子与重子的相互作用。特别是，这项工作将使暗物质-重子相互作用对各种宇宙学可观测性的影响得到一致的计算，改进相互作用暗物质宇宙学中信号计算中理论不确定性的处理，并为暗物质理论提供新的限制。目前，在为下一代宇宙学和天体物理测量的数据分析做准备时，拟议框架的开发是至关重要的。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 Vera Gluscevic at the University of Southern California (USC). Particles that represent the building blocks of the visible universe account for merely 15% of all matter known to exist. The rest is dark matter, invisible to telescopes, and dominating virtually all galaxies. Dark matter cannot be explained by any known particles; its physical nature is yet to be understood. At the same time, dark matter has shaped the Universe throughout its history, leaving clues in observational data. As part of her research, Professor Gluscevic will use a combination of cosmological observations, computer simulations, and analytic theory to probe how dark matter might interact with normal matter, and to understand how these interactions might affect observational data. This research advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science, in particular our understanding of the building blocks of the Universe in which we live. This work also has significant broader societal impacts. Professor Gluscevic will engage several students and a postdoc in research projects related to this proposal, providing them with essential training in the field. She will also start a dedicated lecture series within the Women in Physics program at USC, to help promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM, enhance networking opportunities, and strengthen the sense of belonging amongst women in Physics and Astronomy.More technically, the key objective of Professor Gluscevic’s work is to develop, implement, and apply a novel comprehensive theoretical framework for probing dark-matter particle interactions with baryons, using a variety of observations. In particular, this work will enable consistent computation of the effects of dark matter-baryon interactions on various cosmological observables, improve treatment of theoretical uncertainty in calculation of signals within interacting-dark-matter cosmology, and provide new limits on dark-matter theory. Development of the proposed framework at present is critical, in preparation for analyses of data from the next generation of cosmological and astrophysical surveys.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.