March Meeting

Dark Matter Decaying in an Expanding Universe

Observations show that the Universe is expanding. General relativity tells us that what the Universe is made of determines how fast the Universe expands. One of the largest components of the Universe is dark matter, but despite its abundance we know remarkably little about it. If dark matter decays, if it breaks up into smaller and faster particles, that changes what the Universe is made of and could measurably affect the speed of the expansion.

Gordon Blackadder is a PhD candidate at Brown University. Originally from Scotland, UK, he studied theoretical physics at the University of St Andrews. His research with Prof. Savvas Koushiappas has focused on modeling and constraining Decaying Dark Matter.