Overview
 
Lecture Topics and Lecturers

 
Course Directors

 
Course Description: Dark Matters
The past twenty years have brought enormous advances in our understanding of the Universe. Evidence from multiple forms of investigation including: precise measurements of the CMB, supernovae, statistical studies of the structures of the Universe, gravitational lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, theory and phenomenalogical simulations all point to the same concordance model: a Universe that started with a big bang and then went through a brief period of superluminal growth (i.e. inflation); which is currently expanding at an accelerated rate and has a matter energy composition of:
  • 72% dark energy
  • 23% dark matter
  • 4.6% atoms
  • 0.4% photons

 
However nice and neat this picture is, it remains full of unknowns. This short course will explore in depth one of the major mysteries on which this model rests: dark matter. It will provide you with the current big cosmological picture, gritty details of the on going searches for dark matter, stories from the forefronts of research and resources that will help you to bring dark matter back to your home institution in a meaningful way. You will meet the individuals behind the headlines and the course format will provide abundant time for informal interactions with them and your peers.
 
Beyond the big picture and how dark matter fits into this picture, we will delve much deeper into this mysterious stuff that comprises almost a quarter of the universe. We will explore the evidence for the existence of dark matter, what models and experimental evidence point to as potential candidates for the particles that compose dark matter, and how dark matter might be detected. Dark matter detection and detector hardware will be a special focus of this course. We will explore direct detection, indirect detection, accelerator searchers (i.e.., producing it in an accelerator and then detecting the decay particles) and the hardware that makes these searchers possible.
 
What you can expect from this course
  • A better understanding of the BIG Picture of cosmology
  • To meet and talk with researchers at the forefronts
  • To tour laboratories and learn about the limits of detector technology
  • Hands-on experiences with dark matter detectors
  • To visit the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum to see innovative ways to bring current cosmology into a museum
  • Tools and resources to bring forefront research into your home institution

 
Online materials