Speaker
Green Anne
Description
Most of the matter in the Universe is invisible. This dark
matter is also exotic, made of new elementary particles.
I will briefly describe the observational evidence for dark
matter, on scales ranging from individual galaxies to the
entire Universe. One of the best dark matter candidates
are WIMPs, Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. I will
describe how WIMPs arise in particle physics models
designed to unify the fundamental forces and are
generically produced in the early Universe with the
required abundance. WIMPs can be detected directly, via
their rare interactions with conventional matter, or
indirectly, via the gamma-rays and anti-matter produced
when they annihilate. WIMPs can also be produced at
particle colliders such as the LHC. I will conclude by
describing the principles, current status and future
prospects of these experiments.
