This award funds the research of Professor Paolo Gondolo at the University of Utah.
A few decades ago it was realized that the motions of galaxies within the universe could not be explained by the gravitational pull of visible galaxies, stars and gases. A new unseen dark matter is believed to exist within and around galaxies, and to provide the missing gravitational pull. Dark matter also appears as 25 percent of the mass balance of the cosmos as determined from studies of the expansion rate of the universe and of the cosmic microwave radiation. Professor Gondolo's research aims at discovering the nature of dark matter. Over the years, numerous theories were proposed as to its nature: from tiny black holes and stars that never ignited to subatomic particles named WIMPs, or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. In this project, Professor Gondolo will continue to examine the WIMP possibility by understanding the role of WIMPs in the formation of the first stars, the informational content of WIMP direct searches on Earth, and the discovery potential of detecting WIMP by-products in cosmic rays. As a service to the scientific community, Professor Gondolo will also contribute to the maintenance and upgrade of the DarkSUSY software package, the leading computer program for studies of WIMP dark matter.
This project also envisions to have significant broader impacts. Professor Gondolo will continue a very successful outreach program of public demonstrations on basic physics that has been taking place in collaboration with a local museum. In addition, the broader component of this project addresses the local situation in science education and literacy through a special course that partners undergraduate students, the university, and K-12 schools in underserved neighborhoods.
This award partially supported the research on dark matter of Prof. Paolo Gondolo and his group at the University of Utah. In particular, Prof. Gondolo's goal has been to understand the nature of dark matter. Our current best physical theories of the structure and evolution of the universe involve the presence of a new form of matter in and around galaxies. It has been deduced that this so-called dark matter is not made of any substance or particle discovered so far. Prof. Gondolo's research support by this award continued to explore the possibility that dark matter is made of new weakly-interacting elementary particles (WIMPs). Prof. Gondolo and his group have tested this idea using the first stars to form in the universe and the analysis of experiments dedicated to searches for WIMPs. Prof. Gondolo has also looked at nuclear physics aspects of the dark matter problem, as well as particular new particles as WIMPs. A software package has been made available to other reseachers, and is actively maintained and improved. This award also partially funded a well-attended physics outreach program directed at local elementary schools and families. The program reaches about a thousand young students and their families every year.
