This proposal from the University of California, Berkeley, in cooperation with the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of California, Irvine; San Francisco State University; Stanford University; and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) requests funds to establish a Science and Technology Center in Particle Astrophysics. The Director of the Center will be Professor Bernard Sadoulet of the University of California, Berkeley. Astronomical evidence indicates that 90% or more of the universe is made of dark matter. Elucidating the nature of this matter has the highest priority in astrophysics and forms the intellectual focus of the research in the Center. The most intriguing possibility is that this matter may be in the form of particle relics from the beginning of the universe. Concentrations of these particles could surround us today in the form of dark matter in galaxy halos, and their signature may exist in the diffuse cosmic background radiation which itself originates from the early universe. Dark matter and the diffuse background radiation provide unique laboratories for studying both the origin of the universe and the fundamental nature of matter. Central to the research program is the development of a new generation of cryogenic detectors which can be used to measure more accurately the diffuse background radiation and to verify directly the particle origin hypothesis of dark matter. Another clue to the origin of dark matter may lie in the details of the large scale structure of the universe. Research at the Center will include the development of advanced optical methods for this study including the development of an adaptive optics system for the new Keck Telescope. If successful, the importance of this high-resolution system for all of astronomy cannot be overemphasized, while the impact on the optical industry will be quite direct.
