RUI: New Directions in Dark Matter and Cosmology

粒子物理学和天文学的最新进展，包括引力波的发现，为我们居住的宇宙及其包含的物质提供了大量新的观测数据。这笔赠款支持的研究重点是开发新的方法，从这些数据中提取关于我们宇宙历史的信息，并应用这些结果来解决基本的悬而未决的问题，例如我们宇宙中物质的空间分布是如何形成的，以及为什么我们的宇宙包含的物质比反物质多得多。这项研究的一个特别目的是更好地了解我们宇宙中“暗物质”的起源和性质。“暗物质”是一种迄今仍很神秘的物质形式，既不发射也不吸收光线，但通过对正常可见物质的引力来感受到它的存在。该奖项的很大一部分将支持本科生参与这些研究课题，从而培养下一代科学家的兴趣并磨练他们的计算技能。该奖项支持的研究计划围绕两个主要主题组织。其中一个主题是研究新的方法，以揭示关于我们宇宙暗部分的信息，并区分不同的暗物质场景。涉及非最小暗扇区的场景特别令人感兴趣，因为在这种场景中暗物质的特征实验特征通常与通常与最小暗扇区相关的特征不同，研究也较少。另一个主题是调查偏离早期宇宙宇宙学的最小图景--例如，涉及额外的宇宙学相变、额外的不稳定自由度，或者与宇宙膨胀或再热有关的额外动力学--的背离如何通过观察来探测或限制。这一研究主题涉及确定新的方法，以使用观测数据--例如，关于物质功率谱或宇宙微波背景的性质--来揭示关于早期宇宙动力学的信息。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。

Recent advances in particle physics and astronomy, including the discovery of gravitational waves, have provided a trove of new observational data about the universe we inhabit and the matter it contains. The research supported by this grant focuses on developing novel methods of extracting information about the history of our universe from this data and applying these results in order to address fundamental unanswered questions such as how the spatial distribution of matter within our universe came to be the way it is and why our universe contains so much more matter than antimatter. One particular aim of this research is to better understand the origin and properties of the "dark matter" in our universe - an as-yet mysterious form of matter that neither emits nor absorbs light, but nevertheless makes its presence felt via its gravitational pull on normal, visible matter. A significant portion of this award will support undergraduate involvement in these research topics, thereby cultivating interest among the next generation of scientists and honing their computational skills.The program of research supported by this award is organized around two main themes. One of these themes is to investigate novel methods for uncovering information about the dark sector of our universe and distinguishing between different dark-matter scenarios. Scenarios involving non-minimal dark-sectors are of particular interest, since the characteristic experimental signatures of dark matter in such scenarios are often qualitatively different from those typically associated with minimal dark sectors, and less thoroughly studied. The other theme is to investigate how departures from the minimal picture of early-universe cosmology - departures involving, for example, additional cosmological phase transitions, additional unstable degrees of freedom, or additional dynamics related to cosmic inflation or reheating - can be probed or constrained by observation. This research theme involves identifying novel ways in which observational data - concerning, for example, the matter power spectrum or the properties of the cosmic microwave background - can be used to reveal information about early-universe dynamics.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.