"Theory of Particle Physics and Cosmology" Seminar

The Dark Matter (DM) mass regime spans over ninety orders of magnitude, and while experiments have been constraining many regions of the viable parameter space, there exist about thirty-five decades that have been under-explored. In particular, for DM masses starting at around a microgram, terrestrial detectors lack sufficient exposure, assuming the typical DM density, while gravity-based detection methods lack sufficient sensitivity, due to the low mass scale. In this talk, I will present a viable DM candidate for this mass regime, as well as detailing how current and near future precision experiments can be used to place constraints on its interactions with the Standard Model. I will also show the sensitivity of traditional DM direct detection experiments for slightly lower mass composite dark matter, where the compositeness scale plays a key role in determining the feasibility of detection for a given detector.