Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and New Physics

该奖项资助了犹他大学教授Paolo Gondolo和Pearl Sandick的研究活动和外展/社区参与项目。宇宙中70%以上的能量和80%以上的物质的性质是未知的。这种所谓的“暗能量”和“暗物质”的本质是物理学、天体物理学和宇宙学中一个悬而未决的重大问题。暗物质和暗能量目前只能通过它们产生的引力来探测。确定暗物质和暗能量的本质可能会产生广泛的影响，就像哥白尼革命一样。哥白尼革命将地球在宇宙中的位置从中心移开，这次是通过将构成人类的物质物质降为少数组成部分。这一领域的研究通过促进科学在其最基本的方面之一的进步来促进国家利益：发现我们物理宇宙的性质和组成。在他们的研究中，冈多洛教授和桑迪克教授的目标是进一步加深我们对暗物质的理解，并提高我们根据可观察到的效应对各种提出的理论观点进行分类的能力。他们还旨在通过探索具有相同性质的新引力系统，进一步加深我们对暗能量的理解。预计该项目还将产生更广泛的重大影响。这包括教育和激励当地的非学术团体了解科学，以及培训早期职业科学家。该项目还将支持在当地科学博物馆和当地学校开展的一项长期成功的推广计划，该计划将吸引数千名年轻学生，以一种有趣、充满活力和参与的方式吸引他们参与科学，从而最终增加能够用基本科学知识解决我们时代重大问题的负责任的公民和领导者的数量。与此同时，该项目通过犹他大学、更广泛的社区和国家层面的一系列推广和专业发展项目，支持在物理科学领域招募和留住有才华的女性和少数族裔的努力。从技术上讲，冈多洛教授和桑迪克教授将开展具有共同元素的个人研究项目。他们将(a)探索宇宙中暗物质和暗能量的理论解释，以及超越粒子物理标准模型的新粒子物理理论；(b)确定并提出可靠的策略，以识别暗物质和其他潜在的新物理。这些目标将通过多种方式实现：通过对最小超对称标准模型和其他简化模型中的对撞机和暗物质特征的现象学研究，开发涵盖一般弱相互作用大质量粒子（WIMP）模型的DarkSUSY软件，追求暗物质粒子物理学和天体物理学中最少数量的假设（特别是天体物理学独立方法和一般相互作用拉格朗日量）；以及具有负压（暗能量的一个特征）的广义相对论自引力系统的分析。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 and outreach/community-engagement programs of Professors Paolo Gondolo and Pearl Sandick at the University of Utah. The nature of more than 70% of the energy in the universe and of more than 80% of its matter is unknown. The nature of this so-called "dark energy" and "dark matter" is a major open question in physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Dark matter and dark energy have currently been detected only by means of the gravity they generate. Establishing the nature of dark matter and dark energy may have implications as wide as the Copernican revolution that moved the Earth's place in the Universe away from its center, this time by relegating the material substance of which humans are made to a minority component. Research in this area advances the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental aspects: discovering the nature and composition of our physical universe. In their research, Professors Gondolo and Sandick aim to further our understanding of dark matter and advance our ability to sort various proposed theoretical ideas on the basis of their observable effects. They also aim to further our understanding of dark energy by exploring novel gravitational systems with components of the same nature. This project is also envisioned to have significant broader impacts. These include educating and exciting the local non-academic community about science as well as training early-career scientists. This project will also support a longstanding and successful outreach program at a local science museum and in local schools --- a program that reaches thousands of young students with the goal of attracting them to science in a fun, energetic, and engaging way --- so as to ultimately increase the number of responsible citizens and leaders who can address the major issues of our time with basic scientific knowledge. At the same time, this project supports efforts to recruit and retain talented women and minorities in the physical sciences through a suite of outreach and professional-development programs at the University of Utah, in the broader community, and at the national level.Technically, Professors Gondolo and Sandick will conduct individual research programs with elements in common. They will (a) explore theoretical explanations for the dark matter and dark energy in the Universe and for theories of new particle physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics; and (b) determine and suggest robust strategies for the identification of dark matter and, potentially, other new physics. These objectives will be achieved in many ways: through phenomenological studies of collider and dark-matter signatures in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and in other simplified models, the development of the DarkSUSY software to cover generic weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) models, the pursuit of a minimal number of assumptions in the particle physics and astrophysics of dark matter (specifically astrophysics-independent methods and general interaction lagrangians), and the analysis of general-relativistic self-gravitating systems with negative pressure (a characteristic of dark energy).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.