The Sound of Dark Matter

Speaker: Simon Knapen

Date: Monday, October 30, 2023

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Location: 472 Willamette Hall

Abstract: I will explain how we can search for light Dark Matter by detecting small amounts of phonons in specific crystals. To calculate the scattering rates, we must use methods from computational condensed matter physics within the context of particle physics. I will also discuss potentially very subtle backgrounds that can arise from crystal defects in the detector material.