Events at Director’s Conference Room (50A-5132) LBNL

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Title: Detectable dark photon dark matter Abstract: Ultralight dark photons are dark matter candidates supported by a burgeoning direct-detection program searching for their kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon. A dark photon’s dynamics in the early Universe, however, can easily breach the validity of the low-energy effective theory for a massive vector field, with disastrous consequences for its viability as … Read More

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Title: “Axions in QFT and Quantum Gravity” Abstract: The QCD axion is well-studied as a solution to the Strong CP problem and a dark matter candidate. At the same time, one often hears that axions are ubiquitous in top-down string theory models of particle physics. I will discuss some recent developments in our understanding of generalized global symmetries in quantum … Read More

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Title: (Runaway) Gravitational Production of Dark Photons  Abstract: Gravitational particle production is the process by which particles are created due to the expansion of spacetime during inflation. In this talk I will discuss aspects of gravitational particle production of dark photons, a popular dark matter candidate, with a particular focus on dark photons with nonminimal couplings to gravity. I will first show that the inclusion of nonminimal … Read More

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Title: Strongly coupled holographic sectors and the Early Universe Abstract: Strongly coupled confining theories are well-motivated in many BSM frameworks. Non-perturbative phenomena in the cosmological history of these theories present interesting theoretical questions and possibilities for observable signals. I will present recent and ongoing work that uses bottom-up holography and warped extra-dimensions to investigate the theoretical and phenomenological aspects of … Read More

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Title: Broken higher-form symmetries in particle physics Abstract: The study of generalized symmetries has led to new insights across high energy, condensed matter, and mathematical physics, but we are still in the early days of applications to particle physics. In this talk, I’ll briefly survey some of the generalized symmetries relevant for particle physics and present two examples where broken higher-form … Read More

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https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/94928022788?pwd=emVQWG1mTnhSbHVqekVuenk0VEVQZz09 Title: The neutrino force at all length scales Abstract:The exchange of a pair of neutrinos can mediate a long-range force. This “neutrino force” is a unique quantum force predicted by the Standard Model; it is also sensitive to the nature of the neutrino mass. Yet, this force is too weak to be detected so far. In this talk, I … Read More