This three-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in astrophysics between the NSF Science and Technology (STC) for Particle Astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire at the College de France. The U.S. and French research teams are led by Bernard Sadoulet, Director of the STC at Berkeley, and Yannick Giraud-Heraud, leader of the French group. Specifically, support will be provided to advanced U.S. graduate students and postdoctoral researchers affiliated with the Berkeley STC for their travel to France. The U.S. and French teams will focus on the fundamental problem of dark matter, a topic identified as the highest priority in astrophysics research. Evidence indicates that 90% or more of the Universe is made of dark matter, and that this matter may be in the form of particles dating back to the beginning of the Universe. The study of the dark matter problem has important implications for understanding the origin of the Universe and the fundamental nature of matter. In this project, the U.S. and French teams will perform experimental searches for dark matter either in the form of weakly interactive particles or in the form of massive astrophysical compact halo objects.
