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2023.10.10
New Ideas on the Origin of Dark Matter from QUP Internship Program
In the ever-expanding cosmos of scientific exploration, WPI-QUP is making further steps towards unraveling the secrets of the Universe by exploring unknown quantum fields by developing novel ideas and quantum measurement systems to "Bring New Eyes to Humanity".
Through the recently initiated advanced QUP internship program (QUPIP), post-doctoral fellows as well as graduate students from all over the world have the opportunity to participate and contribute to the cutting-edge research activities at QUP, ranging from space mission instrumentation and quantum sensor development to theoretical physics. Having started in summer of 2023, QUPIP has already accepted applications of 14 excellent junior researchers to participate in QUP activities from 3 different continents (Europe, North America, Asia) and affiliated with leading institutions such as Harvard University and University of California at Berkeley in US, University of Tokyo in Japan, Seoul National University in South Korea.
Photo: Philip Lu, postdoctoral researcher of Seoul National National University, one of the first QUPIP participants.
Close collaboration of QUPIP participants and researchers at QUP is already showing first fruitful results. Two new research papers from international teams appeared on the preprint server arXiv on September 11 [1] and September 21 [2] led by Philip Lu, among the first QUPIP participants and postdoctoral scholar at Seoul National University, who collaborated with QUP Senior Scientist and Assistant Professor at KEK Theory Center Volodymyr Takhistov.
The papers propose novel and unconventional ideas for the origin of mysterious dark matter (DM), which constitutes ~85% of all matter in the Universe. Search and discovery of the origin of DM is one of the major mysterious QUP scientists aim to address.
In the first paper [1], international team suggests that DM could originate from radiation of microscopic black holes undergoing Hawking evaporation, which themselves were formed from collapse of DM particles in the very early Universe. Intriguingly, such “regurgitated” DM could span decades of orders of magnitude in mass, opening parameter space previously considered excluded.
The second paper [2] suggests that evaporating early Universe black holes could be the origin for sterile neutrinos, which communicate with neutrinos of Standard Model, could be responsible for observed neutrino mass and could contribute to DM. The paper outlines novel unique observational targets of the mechanism: X-rays from decaying sterile neutrinos and gravitational waves associated with evaporating black holes. A promising instrument for such X-ray emission detection is the recently launched JAXA-led space telescope XRISM, data analysis of which also constitutes a major area of research at QUP.
“QUPIP was a memorable experience with many interesting discussions and productive collaborations.” - says Philip Lu. Building on initial success of QUPIP, QUP plans to further facilitate additional opportunities for talented junior researchers to engage in cutting-edge research.
Paper details
Paper 1
Preprint (arXiv.org): https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.05703
Title: Regurgitated Dark Matter
Authors: TaeHun Kim (1,2), Philip Lu (2,3), Danny Marfatia (4), Volodymyr Takhistov (3,5,6)
Author affiliations:
1 School of Physics, KIAS, Seoul 02455, Korea
2 Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
3 International Center for Quantum-field Measurement Systems for Studies of the Universe and Particles (QUP, WPI), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Oho 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
5 Theory Center, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba 305-0801, Japan
6 Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
Paper 2
Preprint (arXiv.org): https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.12258
Title: Primordial Black Hole Neutrinogenesis of Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
Authors: Muping Chen (1), Graciela B. Gelmini (1), Philip Lu (2,3), Volodymyr Takhistov (3,4,5)
Author affiliations:
1 Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
2 Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
3 International Center for Quantum-field Measurement Systems for Studies of the Universe and Particles (QUP, WPI), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Oho 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
4 Theory Center, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba 305-0801, Japan
5 Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
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