Observational Probes of Rare Species of Dark Matter

Speaker: Maxim Pospelov (University of Minnesota)

Date: April 10, 2023

Time 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Location: IFS Seminar Room, 472 Willamette Hall

Abstract: I address the phenomenology of dark matter models that have sizable cross sections with ordinary matter (and therefore have to be a sub-dominant component of Dark Matter). Its rapid thermalization makes it “invisible” for absolute majority of dark matter detectors. Despite being initially a very small fraction, its trapping and accumulation in the Earth may lead to new interesting consequences and signatures. Among such consequences, I will discuss A. the direct annihilation inside volumes of large underground neutrino telescopes, B. the possibility of using nuclear accelerators underground to accelerate dark matter and observe it subsequent scattering, C. the dark-matter-catalyzed decays of long lived nuclear isomers, D. formation of nuclear – DM bounds states.

Host: Pouya Asadi