Current Seminars
Institute for Fundamental Science
2023-24 Academic Year
Seminars, Colloquia, and Workshops
Organizer and host: Pouya Asadi
Unless otherwise noted, IFS seminars are Mondays at 4:00 p.m. in the IFS Seminar Room, 472 Willamette Hall.
A seminar announcement is distributed via email prior to each one. To add your name to the notification list, please email your request to Claire Staley, cnstaley@uoregon.edu.
To see prior years’ seminars, click here.
Spring Term 2024
Monday, April 15 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Title: Searching for Dark Matter Axions with DMRadio
Speaker: Maria Simanovskaia (Stanford University)
Abstract: The nature of dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries of the modern era. The axion is a promising dark matter candidate that was postulated as a solution to the strong charge-parity problem in the standard model of particle physics. In the presence of a magnetic field, axions convert to an electromagnetic field oscillating at a frequency corresponding to the axion mass. We can detect this oscillating electromagnetic field like a radio detects stations at certain frequencies by tuning a resonator and searching for a signal. DMRadio is a suite of experiments that use cryogenics, strong magnets, cutting-edge amplifier technology, and resonators to search for the small signal expected from axion dark matter. In this talk, I will present an overview of DMRadio, focusing on the detector currently under construction at Stanford, DMRadio-50L.
Host: Laura Jeanty
Monday, April 22 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Title: Detectable Vector Dark Matter
Speaker: David Cyncynates (University of Washington)
Abstract: Ultralight dark photons are compelling dark matter candidates, but their allowed kinetic mixing with the Standard Model photon is severely constrained by requiring that the dark photons do not collapse into a cosmic string network in the early Universe. In this talk, I will review minimal vector dark matter production from inflationary fluctuations and how the corresponding production of cosmic strings eliminates any prospect of vector dark matter direct detection. This raises the question: “what vector dark matter models are experiments sensitive to?” which I will address with the remainder of the talk. I will begin by introducing a minimally extended model that weakens cosmic string bounds enough to be probed by upcoming SuperCDMS observations. I will then show in a model-independent way how less-minimal post-inflationary vector production can broaden the available parameter space to include all upcoming direct detection experiments. Finally, I will present a concrete realization of these postinflationary dynamics.
Host: Pouya Asadi
Thursday, April 25 1:30 – 2:30 pm **SPECIAL DAY AND TIME**
Title: TBA
Speaker: Riccardo Rattazzi (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne)
Abstract: TBA
Host: Pouya Asadi
Monday, May 6 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Title: TBA
Speaker: Stefania Gori (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Abstract: TBA
Host: Pouya Asadi
Monday, May 13 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Title: TBA
Speaker: Yang Bai (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Abstract: TBA
Host: Pouya Asadi
Monday, May 20 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Title: TBA
Speaker: Federica Piazza (University of Oregon / CERN)
Abstract: TBA
Host: Pouya Asadi
Monday, June 3 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Title: TBA
Speaker: Isabel Garcia Garcia (University of Washington)
Abstract: TBA
Host: Pouya Asadi