2012–2013 Student Seminar Theoretical Physics & GRAPPA
2012–2013 Student Seminar Theoretical Physics & GRAPPA
Presentations
1.Dark matter at LHC
5.Direct dark matter detection
Dates & Time: 9:00-13:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in June 2013
Rooms: SP B0.201 (Mondays and Fridays), A1.04 (Wednesdays)
Instructors: Shin'ichiro Ando (s.ando {at} uva.nl), David Berge (d.berge {at} uva.nl)
Teaching assistants: Gabriele Sabato, Fabio Zandanel
This year, Student Seminar is jointly organized between Theoretical Physics and GRAPPA MSc tracks. It will cover broad topics of high-energy particle physics and astrophysics. These are
- Dark matter searches at the LHC
- Supernova remnants in gamma rays and acceleration of Galactic cosmic rays
- The Higgs discovery and its implications for the Standard Model and cosmology
- Dark matter annihilation and indirect searches in gamma rays
- Direct dark matter searches in underground experiments
- Low and high-energy neutrino physics and astrophysics
More detailed descriptions of each topic can be found below.
The students in each group is asked to study the subject deeply and present what they have learned. The goal is not only to understand the textbook-level basics, but also to reach the latest understanding of the topic. Therefore, the literature search using the internet is very important. Those who have a laptop (or iPad) are strongly recommended to bring it in the class. The course is very intensive, so that the students are expected to spend full time during the period. The rooms are booked for 9:00-13:00 and it is a supervised time, but the students should also spend the afternoons for the study and seminar preparation.
For each group, students should prepare two presentations of different (but related) subjects. Each presentation is expected to be about 40 min with up to one-hour discussion involving everybody in the class. Evaluations will be made according to their activities in both the presentations and discussions.
The first class starts at 9:00 on 3 June in Science Park B0.201, and everyone should attend. We are going to do some orientations, explaining the structure of the course and giving some practical tips such as literature searches, etc.
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Detailed descriptions of each topic
- Dark matter searches at the LHC
If the dark matter of the Universe is a particle that couples to the known particles of the so called Standard Model, this particle may be produced and measured in high-energy proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Different scenarios of new physics models beyond the Standard Model predict signs of dark matter to appear in LHC data. An overview of such new physics models and corresponding LHC signatures is to be given, and the latest LHC results of dark matter searches shall be presented and discussed.
- Supernova remnants in gamma rays and acceleration of Galactic cosmic rays
Charged cosmic rays are accelerated in our own Galaxy up to very high energies. The powerful sources accelerating cosmic rays have for long time been speculated to be supernova remnants. Recent measurements of very high energy gamma rays from supernova remnants have provided important insights into the question of cosmic ray acceleration in supernova remnants. The students should introduce the question of the sources of Galactic cosmic rays, and discuss potential measurements of such sources. They shall then review the current state of the art research pursued in gamma ray and potentially neutrino astronomy, and discuss the implications for the quest of the sources of Galactic cosmic rays.
- The Higgs discovery and its implications for the Standard Model and cosmology
40 years of experimental work have recently culminated in the discovery of the Higgs boson. The students are asked to introduce the importance of the Higgs boson, review the experimental challenges related to it, the measurements performed at CERN leading to its discovery, and put this achievement into the bigger picture of new physics beyond the Standard Model and potentially the cosmology of the early universe.
- Dark matter annihilation and indirect searches in gamma rays
If the dark matter is made up of WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles), dark matter will annihilate into standard model particle, most importantly, gamma rays. The searches for gamma rays can therefore tell us important information of properties of dark matter. The topic can include study of WIMP paradigm, distribution of dark matter in cosmological objects, and recent observational results with Fermi satellite, etc.
- Direct dark matter searches in underground experiments
Since WIMPs can interact with standard model particles, dark matter may scatter nuclei and deposit its kinetic energy. Underground experiments such as XENON try to find the signature of such scatterings and to constrain parameters of dark matter particles. The topic can include theoretical connection between scattering rate and cross section and mass, astrophysical uncertainty, and recent experimental results with XENON, etc.
- Low and high-energy neutrino physics and astrophysics
Neutrinos are so far the only particle that is known to show signatures of physics beyond the standard model (mass and nonzero mixing). This has been discovered by experiments that measure neutrino oscillations. Neutrinos are also very interesting and unique messenger of extreme conditions that realize in astrophysical objects. The topic can include the theories and results of recent neutrino oscillation experiments (low energies in MeV) and searches for astrophysical neutrinos (high energies in TeV).