Author Archives: gf.bertone@gmail.com
The moment of Truth for WIMP Dark Matter
The most promising candidates for the mysterious Dark Matter are new particles called WIMPs (for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). In a recent article published on Nature, I argue that the moment of truth has come for these particles, for we will either discover them, or we will inevitably witness the decline of the ‘WIMP paradigm’.
Here is the abstract of the version posted on the arXiv.
We know that dark matter constitutes 85% of all the matter in the Universe, but we do not know of what it is made. Amongst the many Dark Matter candidates proposed, WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) occupy a special place, as they arise naturally from well motivated extensions of the standard model of particle physics. With the advent of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and a new generation of astroparticle experiments, the moment of truth has come for WIMPs: either we will discover them in the next five to ten years, or we will witness the inevitable decline of WIMP paradigm.
Aspen Winter Conference on Dark Matter, 6-12 Feb 2011
We are organizing a Winter Conference on Dark Matter from February 6 o 12, 2011, at the Aspen Center for Physics, in Aspen, Colorado. If you want to join us for stimulating discussion in this beautiful location, please register before October 31 on the workshop webpage
Here is the description for the conference:
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It is an exciting time for dark matter. Direct and indirect searches have yielded very interesting
constraints on the nature of dark matter. In addition, tantalizing signals from both space- and ground-based experiments could be interpreted as a signal of dark matter annihilation/decay or interaction. While these results might provide crucial information about the nature of dark matter, the resolution of these claims requires better understanding of the astrophysical and instrumental backgrounds. Improved results from current and upcoming direct and indirect searches will continue to shed light on these puzzles.
The aim of this workshop is to bring together experimentalists and theorists to share knowledge on astrophysical backgrounds, the most recent experimental results, and the latest theoretical work at a time of great opportunity and change in the field of dark matter.
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Dark Matter in the Sky and Underground
The Pauli Center for Theoretical Studies in Zurich is sponsoring a workshop on “Dark Matter in the Sky and Underground”.
Rationale: A convincing identification of Dark Matter particles can hardly be achieved on the basis of an accelerator-only approach. Fortunately, complementary information can be obtained with astrophysical observations (in particular of anti-matter, gamma-ray and neutrino telescopes), and data from dedicated ‘direct detection’ experiments. This workshop centers on the multidisciplinary aspect of Dark Matter searches, and more specifically on the statistical tools so far developed for the exploration of New Physics with stringent observational constraints arising form accelerator, direct and indirect Dark Matter searches.
More information, programme and participants list can be found on the workshop webpage.
Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way
Timelapse video of the Perseid Meteor Shower and the galactic core of the Milky Way as seen from Joshua Tree National Park.
Music is Samskeyti by Sigur Ros
These were taken between August 12 and August 15, 2010.
Music is Samskeyti by Sigur Ros
(Credit: Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.)