Skip to main content

Dark matter: Neptune or Vulcan ?

QUICK INFORMATION
Type
ESRF-ILL Joint Colloquium
Start Date
06-07-2018 11:00
End Date
06-07-2018 12:30
Location
Auditorium, Central Building
Speaker's name
Pierre SALATI
Speaker's institute
LAPTH Annecy-Le-Vieux, CNRS
Contact name
Fabienne Mengoni
Host name
C. Ferrero (ESRF)† and P. Bruno (ESRF), U. Köster (ILL)
Add event to calendar
iCal | vCal

More than eighty years after its discovery by Fritz Zwicky, the Dark Matter problem is not yet solved. A significant portion of the universe is indirectly detected through its gravitational effects on the rotation of galaxies, on the dynamics of galactic clusters and on the expansion of space. The most puzzling aspect is the non-baryonic nature of that enigmatic component. Many candidates have been proposed in the framework of the theoretical extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics.

I will review a few facts which point toward the existence of Dark Matter and try to classify the various possibilities to explain it.

However, none of the proposed solutions has been supported by experiment nor observation. The most favoured option, a weakly interacting massive species dubbed WIMP, has not yet been seen at the LHC. Time has come to investigate other possibilities such as MOND or bi-metric gravity.

I will present a few attempts in this direction. More than ever, the question arises to decide whether the Dark Matter problem is reminiscent of the discovery of Neptune or of the unsuccessful searches for Vulcan.

Coffee will be served before the colloquium, at 10:30

Visitors from off-site please contact Fabienne Mengoni tel +33 (0)4 76 88 20 44 to arrange for a gate pass.
Requests made by e-mail will be confirmed.
If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail, please contact us by phone.