Physics seminar:Dark Matter in the Heavens and at the LHC,Durmuş Demir

  Dark Matter in the Heavens and at the LHC        
   Durmuş Demir
   Izmir Institute of Technology

Abstract:
Dark Matter, forming nearly one-fourth of the total mass in the universe, is fundamental for successful
structure formation if gravity is described by General Relativity. Recent observations by PAMELA and
Fermi LAT Collaborations show that energetic cosmic rays carry an excess of positrons – an effect not
attributable to secondary sources. Dark Matter stands up as one possible source of the excess positrons,
and this puts stringent constraints on the particle physics models of dark matter. The Dark Matter particle
– a neutral, long-living,  weakly interacting, massive particle not found in the Standard Model of particle
physics – leaves the LHC detectors undetected and can be searched  for only indirectly via certain leptonic signals. 
 
In this talk, we discuss astrophysical and LHC signals of Dark Matter particles in a framework where Nature
is nearly supersymmetric at the atto-meter scale, and neutrino masses are protected by an extra Abelian force
such that the right-handed scalar neutrino is the Dark Matter particle.

Biography:
Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir received his B. Sc. degree from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Department of  Middle East Technical University in 1991, and Ph. D. degree from the Physics
Department of the same university in 1995. Following his post-doctoral studies at University
of Pennsylvania, ICTP, and TPI Minnesota, he joined Izmir Institute of Technology in 2003. He is
a member of TWAS and holds Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
Research Award. His research areas include high energy physics and astro-particle physics.

 
Wednesday, 05 May 2010,  FENS L035,  13:40