| Today, Thursday, May 14, 2026 |
| "Effectively" Limiting Light Dark Matter with Loops | |
| Melissa Diamond, McGill University | |
| Event Type: Informal Astro Talk | |
| Time: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM | |
| Location: 726 Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar | |
| Abstract: Dark matter searches often focus on a single interaction between dark matter and the Standard Model. However, any interaction between the dark sector and any Standard Model particle can lead to many additional loop level interactions with many other Standard Model particles. In this talk, I will show how dark matter which interacts with nuclei automatically gains interactions with electrons, photons, and light mesons. Despite their loop level suppression, these additional effective interactions can lead to new observables and limits for nucleophillic dark matter. In particular, many sub-GeV dark matter models which are difficult to observe or constrain via direct detection experiments are strongly limited by their effective interactions with photons, electrons and mesons. | |
| Detecting dark matter with asteroids, planetary rings, and craters | |
| Zac Picker, Queens University | |
| Event Type: Informal Astro Talk | |
| Time: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM | |
| Location: 726 Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar | |
| Abstract: Macroscopic, composite, and ultraheavy dark matter remains one of the most intriguing dark matter candidates. Along with primordial black holes, this includes quark nuggets, Fermi balls, Q-balls, and more. I will briefly motivate these candidates and their formation mechanisms, before discussing here my recent work which places constraints on a wide and previously unconstrained area of the macroscopic dark matter parameter space by considering the interaction of these massive objects within our Solar System. Macroscopic dark matter could destroy asteroids, planetary rings, and lead to excessive cratering on the Earth or other rocky bodies. | |