Particle Physics Seminar

10:10-10:40

Speaker: Oren Slone

Title: "A New Technique for Direct Detection of Ultra-Light Dark Matter and Solar Neutrinos".

Abstract: Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) have been the main focus of the Dark Matter (DM) community for many years. However, there are both experimental clues and theoretical motivation to think beyond the WIMP paradigm and consider new ideas in the search for DM. I explore a new low-threshold direct-detection concept for DM, based on the breaking of chemical bonds between atoms. This includes the dissociation of molecules and the creation of defects in a lattice. With thresholds of a few to 10's of eV, such an experiment could probe the nuclear couplings of dark matter particles as light as a few tens of MeV. I also discuss the possibility of detecting solar neutrinos, including pp neutrinos, with this experimental concept.

10:40-11:10

Speaker: Noam Levi

Title: Light Dark Matter from Leptogenesis

Seminar Organizer: Prof. Nissan Itzhaki