Discovering Dark Matter Beyond the Weak Scale

Synopsis

There is overwhelming astrophysical and cosmological evidence for the existence of dark matter. For decades, particle physicists thought it must be a very well-motivated class of models falling under the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) paradigm. Though there have been extensive searches for these, a convincing signal remains elusive. We are hence compelled to consider a broader program based on novel theoretical ideas and search strategies. In this seminar, I will give an overview of my work on new scenarios beyond the WIMP paradigm that can give new and striking signals of dark matter, accessible to current and near future experimentsThere is overwhelming astrophysical and cosmological evidence for the existence of dark matter. For decades, particle physicists thought it must be a very well-motivated class of models falling under the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) paradigm. Though there have been extensive searches for these, a convincing signal remains elusive. We are hence compelled to consider a broader program based on novel theoretical ideas and search strategies. In this seminar, I will give an overview of my work on new scenarios beyond the WIMP paradigm that can give new and striking signals of dark matter, accessible to current and near future experiments