This project is research on particle physics and cosmology. The principal subject of research is the nature of possible "dark (i.e., non-luminous) matter" (DM) which may well be the main form of mass in the universe. The research involves both further exploration of several "cold" DM scenarios, and also detailed study of the possibilities of detecting or constraining the properties of various hypothetical DM particles via laboratory and accelerator experiments, cosmic radiation, and further aalysis of Supernova 1987a. Another subject of research is the possibility that galaxy and cluster formation is triggered by loops of "cosmic string;" the project will study the detailed evolution of loops, and also investigate cosmic string models that are consistent with a form of expansion of the universe that is called "inflation". The project will also attempt to ascertain the nature of the DM and the initial conditions by detailed study of the dynamics of disk galaxies and of the evolution of galaxies and their clustering, in anticipation of extensive new data. Finally, it will study the various theories of particle physics beyond the standard model both for their implications regarding the DM and for insights into the big unsolved problems of cosmology such as the value of the cosmological constant. This project will help refine our theories of the large scale structure of the universe, the early moments of the universe, and the nature of up to 99% of the matter in the universe.
