.High Energy Phenomenology, Experiment, & Cosmology Events
Spring 2023
Non-standard Neutrino Interactions in Light Mediator Models
Speaker: Ankur Verma (Texas A&M University)
The non-standard interactions (NSI) in the neutrino sector are a well- motivated phenomenological approach to understand the new physics in the neutrino sector. Non standard neutrino-electron interaction mediated by light scalar/vector mediator arises naturally in many low-scale models. We also propose one such new model with a light scalar mediator. [...]Light Dark Matter Search in Stopped Pion Experiments
Speaker: Wei-Chih Huang (Texas A&M University)
We study inelastic dark matter-nucleus scattering in stopped pion experiments by nuclear shell model. We find that the inelastic scattering is dominated by Gamow-Teller (GT) transition. We use nuclear shell model code, BIGSTICK, to calculate GT transitions and the deexcitation photons for the nuclei such as Na-23, Ar-40, and I-127. [...]
Search for Dark Sector Particles in Accelerator-driven Fixed Target Experiments
Speaker: Wooyoung Jang (University of Texas, Arlington)Host: Doojin Kim
Dark matter constitutes more than 80% of matter in the universe, but it’s true nature remains unknown except its gravitational effects. Despite extensive experimental studies over several decades aimed at detecting weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter candidates, no positive signals have been found.This lack of success has led [...]The Higgs Boson and New Physics at the Large Hadron Collider and Beyond
Speaker: Ian Lewis (University of Kansas)Host: Doojin Kim
The discovery of the Higgs was a milestone in particle physics and measurements of its properties are long range priorities of the community. While precise measurements of Higgs properties point agree with the prediction of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, there is still much to learn. In this talk, [...]Aspects of Asymmetry and It’s Plausible Connections to Gravitational Waves
Speaker: Arnab Dasgupta (University of Pittsburgh)
In my talk I will dwell on some of the subtle aspects concerning the major mechanisms in matter-asymmetry. Primarily I would be focusing on a subtle on spontaneous baryogenesis and then I will move on to the aspects concerning in asymmetry generated via Decay/Scattering. And then I will show a [...]A Direct Detection View of the Neutrino NSI Landscape
Speaker: Dorian Amaral (Rice University)Host: Doojin Kim
Neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) have been extensively explored in the context of dedicated neutrino experiments. However, the next generation of direct detection experiments is on course to observe a significant number of solar neutrino events, and the sensitivities of these experiments within the NSI landscape are yet to be determined. [...]Anomalies in the Galactic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Continuum Spanning the MeV and GeV Bands
Speaker: Christopher Karwin (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
The Galactic plane is a bright source of diffuse gamma-ray emission, consisting of both continuum and line components, spanning the MeV and GeV bands. Observations of the GeV emission with Fermi-LAT have led to a number of anomalies, including excess signals above model predictions towards both the inner Galaxy (i.e. [...]Probing Cosmology of Primordial Black Holes with High Frequency Gravitational Wave
Speaker: Tao Xu (University of Oklahoma)Host: Doojin Kim
High frequency gravitational waves are motivated by many primordial cosmology phenomena. In this talk, I will discuss the connection between high frequency gravitational waves and light primordial black holes in the early universe. Primordial black holes can generate the dark matter relic abundance and the baryon asymmetry with their Hawking [...]The Sterile Neutrino is Dead, Long Live the Sterile Neutrino!
Speaker: Mark Ross-Lonergan (Los Alamos National Laboratory)Host: Doojin Kim
Sterile neutrinos have long intrigued both the theoretical and experimental particle physics communities. They could exist at various well-motivated theoretical scales, from GUT-scale masses involved in see-saw mechanisms to keV dark matter candidates. However, eV-scale sterile neutrinos began with little to no theoretical motivation, but were instead born from several [...]The Gamma-ray Galactic Center Excess with Multi-messenger Observations
Speaker: Ilias Cholis (Oakland University)Host: Doojin Kim
The Galactic center excess (GCE) remains one of the most intriguing discoveries from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations. I will revisit characteristics of the GCE tested under an updated set of high-resolution galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission templates. This diffuse emission, which accounts for the bulk of the observed [...]Ice-Breaking Neutrino Energies: Astrophysical Messengers of Planck-Scale Physics
Speaker: Barbra Skrzypek (Harvard University)Host: Doojin Kim
In recent decades, particle physics has made significant advances in our understanding of high-energy phenomena, both on theoretical and experimental fronts, culminating in the current Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. However, the SM is not a self-contained theory and leaves many questions unanswered; in particular, it falls short of [...]Electromagnetic Signals of High-Frequency Gravitational Waves
Speaker: Asher Berlin (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)Host: Doojin Kim
There is strong motivation to extend the observable frequency range of gravitational waves (GWs) beyond the Hz - kHz regime already probed by LIGO and Virgo. In particular, higher-frequency GWs can give rise to new classes of electromagnetic signals that can be searched for with small-scale detectors. A gauge-invariant description [...]Neutrino Interactions from Outer Space
Speaker: Ivan Esteban (Ohio State University)Host: Doojin Kim
Neutrinos remain mysterious: do they have sizable self-interactions? Laboratory probes allow enhanced self-interactions (also known as secret interactions or νSI). These can be more than 10 orders of magnitude stronger than weak interactions, and they have been invoked to explain several anomalies or dark matter production. νSI are also key [...]High-precision Measurement of the W Boson Mass with the CDF II Detector
Speaker: Ashutosh Kotwal (Duke University)