Baryons and Non Conventional Dark Matter

暗物质的微观物理性质(粒子质量、物种数量、相互作用强度)是物理学中最基本的问题之一。目前的范式是冷暗物质(CDM)，但CDM的原型候选者--弱相互作用大质量粒子--仍然躲避直接探测，这给粒子物理的标准模型带来了困难。对CDM模型的强有力的间接测试集中在宇宙中暗物质的宏观质量分布上。特别是，CDM对从地球质量到银河系超星系团的光晕质量等级做出了具体的预测。探测到任何偏离清洁发展机制预测的情况，将是理解暗物质性质的重要一步。这一提议是为了开发新的统计方法，在新的质量体系中限制光晕的质量等级，直到小星系的质量尺度，在这些星系中，CDM的预测是最干净和最有力的。为了实现这一目标，它将使用世界上目前和即将进行的最大规模的天文测量。对这一提议至关重要的是大型天气观测望远镜(LSST)，它将在2年内投入使用，并将在未来10年积累数据。受训者将在拟议的项目中发挥主导作用，短期目标将侧重于解决具有工具性系统学效果和理论建模的技术问题。一类新的暗物质模型，称为夸克金块，是清洁发展机制的一个令人兴奋的替代方案，因为它预测了与清洁发展机制相同的光晕层次，但在重子丰富的环境中，暗物质也与常规物质强烈相互作用。这项研究计划将调查夸克金块模型的天体物理特征。这一提议有可能发现暗物质的一些新的和基本的东西。这将为温热气体在结构形成中的作用提供新的线索。长期目标将侧重于在即将到来的大型设施内实施该项目，例如测量暗能量和中微子的质量。拟议中的研究将有助于保持加拿大在观测宇宙学方面的领先地位。

The microphysical nature of dark matter (particle mass, number of species, interaction strength) is one of the most fundamental questions in physics. The current paradigm is Cold Dark Matter (CDM), but the archetypal CDM candidates, the Weakly Interactive Massive Particles, still evade direct detection, placing the Standard Model of particle physics in difficulty. Powerful indirect tests of the CDM model focus on the macroscopic mass distribution of Dark Matter in the Universe. In particular, CDM makes a specific prediction about the mass hierarchy of dark matter haloes for halo masses ranging from Earth mass to galactic superclusters. Detecting any deviation from the CDM prediction would be a significant step towards understanding the nature of Dark Matter. This proposal is to develop new statistical approaches to constrain the mass hierarchy of haloes in a new mass regime, down to the mass scale of small galaxies, where the predictions of CDM are the cleanest and strongest. To achieve this, it will use the world's largest current and upcoming astronomical surveys. Critical to this proposal is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will be operational in 2 years and which will accumulate data for the next 10 years. Trainees will have a leading role in the proposed projects and short terms objectives will focus on resolving technical issues with instrumental systematics effects and theoretical modeling. A new class of dark matter models, called quark nuggets, is an exciting alternative to CDM in that it predicts a hierarchy of haloes identical to that of CDM, but where dark matter is also strongly interacting with regular matter in baryon rich environments. This research program will investigate the astrophysical signatures of the quark nuggets model. The proposal has the potential to discover something new and fundamental about dark matter. It will shed a new light on the role of warm and hot gas in structure formation. The long-term objectives will focus on the implementation of the project within the upcoming large facilities, e.g. to measure Dark Energy and the mass of neutrinos. The proposed research will contribute to maintaining Canada as a leading country in observational cosmology.