Colloq Abstract - Ravi
February 23
11:00am Mountain
Vikram Ravi (Caltech)
Radio-wavelength searches for the basis of dark matter
Abstract
Dark matter represents 84% of the gravitating-mass density of the Universe. Observational searches for its component particles or objects are faced with an array of possibilities that span masses between 10^-55 and 10^+35 grams. Experiments in recent years have focused on predictions for ~10^-23-gram WIMP candidates, where the particle mass and density naturally correspond to the hypothesis of weakly-interacting particles that decoupled from cosmic expansion.
However, the dramatic improvement in WIMP constraints has led to a re-examination of a variety of models, from fuzzy cold-dark matter where the particles form few-kpc Bose-Einstein condensates and suppress smaller-scale structure formation, to 30-100 solar mass primordial black holes. I will demonstrate that centimeter-wavelength radio observations have a uniquely important role in searches for dark matter across all mass scales. Further, I will present interesting radio constraints that are being set on dark-matter candidates.
