Abstract: We propose a novel explanation for the smallness of the observed cosmological constant (CC). Regions of space with a large CC are short lived and are dynamically driven to crunch soon after the end of inflation. Conversely, regions with a small CC are metastable and long lived and are the only ones to survive until late times. While the … Read More
Abstract: Millisecond pulsars are known to be very stable clocks, whose fluctuations in the periods of pulses observed over decades do not accumulate. We use the stability of these astrophysical clocks to derive prospects for detecting transiting dark matter substructure from frequency dependent fluctuations in the pulsar period over a 30 year timescale. We apply our results to deterministic and … Read More
Abstract: While the possible interactions of dark matter (DM) with nucleons, electrons, and photons has been extensively studied, we propose extending the search for dark matter by considering its interactions with muons. In particular, an ultralight DM background may apply an oscillating torque to muon spins, causing them to follow novel precession trajectories. A time-resolved analysis of muon precession data … Read More
Abstract: The precision of the data collected at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) demands an increasing theoretical accuracy at the multi-differential level to fully exploit the LHC potential. In this talk I present the first joint resummation for a double-differential kinematic observable involving a jet algorithm in hadronic collisions. I show how a direct space formulation provides guidance to obtain … Read More
ABSTRACT: The search for dark matter substructure in strong lensing images is a technically highly challenging task. Challenges include the marginalization over an extremely large number of parameters and image regularization with non-trivial geometries, and are common to many data analysis tasks in astronomy and particle physics. In this talk, I will expose the significant limitations of traditional likelihood-based approaches. … Read More
Two critical problems are the origin of the baryon asymmetry and the nature of dark matter. In this talk, I will present a minimal, renormalizable model for baryogenesis in which both the dark and standard-model matter asymmetries originate from the same mechanism: electroweak-like baryogenesis in a dark “mirror” sector. In addition to outlining the model and the baryogenesis mechanism, this … Read More
Abstract: Null results from decades of collider, direct and indirect detection searches for DM have been eliminating regions of parameter space most natural for the minimal WIMP scenario. This has resulted in increased interest in non-minimal DM scenarios, spanning many orders of magnitude in mass, and a broad variety of interactions. In this talk I will explore how deviating from … Read More
Perturbative unitarity arguments are commonly used to derive, smilingly model independent, upper bound on a WIMP dark matter massl. In this talk I will present a new thermal, 2-to-2, freezeout mechanism which results in dark matter masses exceeding the unitarity bound by many orders of magnitude, without violating perturbative unitarity or modifying the standard cosmology.
Abstract: Under some conditions, light boson fields grow exponentially around a rotating black hole, called the superradiance instability. We discuss the effects of nonlinear interactions of the boson on the instability. In particular, we focus on the effect of the particle production and show that the growth of the boson cloud may be saturated much before the black hole spin … Read More