Marin Science Seminar Presentation: “Connecting infinitesimal to infinity: The Search for Dark Matter” (October 24, 2012) Download the flyer here.

At very small scales the Standard Model of Elementary Particles explains the building blocks of nature and their interactions. Although the model is very successful (e.g.  prediction of Higgs Bosons recently discovered at CERN), it is incomplete! A new physics beyond the Standard Model is indeed required to explain some internal problems of this model. 

On the other hand at very large scales our observations of dynamics of galaxies, clusters of galaxies or the Universe as a whole do not match our expectations based on the luminous matter content of the Universe. A new form of matter that doesn't emit or interact with light i.e. Dark Matter is required to explain our observations.

I will speak about a new class of elementary particles a.k.a Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) to resolve inconsistencies in our understanding of nature at both extreme large and small scales and how they are connected together.  I will also explore the experimental efforts to detect these particles in terrestrial laboratories.

Nader Mirabolfathi trained as an electrical engineer in Iran and earned his PhD in elementary particle physics and cosmology at the University of Paris. He did his postdoctoral studies at UC Berkeley from 2002 to 2004 has been Associate Research physicist at UC Berkeley since 2008. Dr. Mirabolfathi is currently interested in the direct detection of Dark Matter using the ultra sensitive detectors at the underground laboratories of Soudan in Minnesota and SNOlab in Ontario, Canada.