New Probes of Dark Complexity
Dr. Jack Setford
University of Toronto
In this talk I will discuss several new ways of probing non-minimal dark sectors. First I will describe how we can use white dwarfs as dark matter detectors, to strongly constrain Atomic Dark Matter models. Dark atoms are expected to accumulate in stellar cores, where they can radiate in dark photons and accelerate the star's cooling. These constraints cover a broad range of parameter space and in most cases are the strongest constraint on this class of models. I will then discuss the possibility of detecting dark compact objects, such as Mirror Stars or Dark/Mirror Neutron Stars. Compact objects are a generic prediction of dissipative dark sector models, and both gravitational wave searches and conventional telescopes have impressive discovery potential. I will show how observables such as the tidal deformability in a candidate neutron star merger could identify non-SM compact objects, and what such observations can tell us about the nature of the hidden sector.
Hosted by Prof. Tsai
All interested persons are invited to attend remotely—email physics@nd.edu for information.