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CRF Project - Dark Matter and the Universe
What's New
Postdoc Openings
Applications are open for postdoctoral positions effective from July 2023 (Details)
Project Reference: C6017-20G (30 June 2021 - )
Dark matter (DM) is one of the most mysterious cosmic puzzles, uncovered by wide-ranging observations from the cosmic microwave background to large-scale structure and galaxy rotation. Astrophysicists and cosmologists have accurately established that DM comprises 84% of the universe’s matter, while stars and gas only account for 16%. Decades of studies have converged on a consensus that DM must be predominantly some form of unknown massive particles, although part of it could still be explained by astrophysical objects, such as primordial black holes (PBHs). This consensus naturally raises the question of how to accommodate DM particles into the theory of particle physics, as no suitable DM candidate exists in the Standard Model.
Ingenious hypothetical extensions to particle theory have been proposed over the past few decades. Among them, the paradigm of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is especially influential. This idea potentially unites DM with physics, which dynamically drives electroweak symmetry breaking. It accounts for the relic abundance of DM, predicts the individual DM particle mass to be of electroweak scale, and can be responsible for the Higgs particle discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). However, no such particles have materialized at LHC or elsewhere. This situation has driven scientists to reevaluate exiting DM theories and detection strategies, and develop new ideas.
In this CRF project, we propose to utilize the expected first data of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to explore the nature of DM, by combining the expertise of particle physicists, astrophysicists and cosmologists in Hong Kong. Space telescopes such as Hubble and Spitzer have historically generated far-reaching impacts for the study of DM. As a next-generation space telescope, JWST has the unprecedented capability of imaging lensing objects and clusters in both near- and mid-infrared. In one aspect, this will allow us to constrain the proportion of DM in the form of PBHs, and in another, determine the favored DM candidate between WIMP and fuzzy DM (an alternative theory to WIMP). If the first JWST data is late, as a back-up plan, we will continue our explorations on the nature of DM using the HST data. With these efforts, we expect that the Hong Kong team will, for the first time, provide a world-leading picture on the nature of DM.
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Team Members
| Tom BROADHURST |
The University of Hong Kong
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| Andrew G COHEN |
| The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
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| Jeremy LIM |
The University of Hong Kong
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| Tao LIU (Project Coordinator) |
| The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
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| George SMOOT |
| The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
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| Henry TYE |
| The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
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| Yi WANG |
| The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
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