Particle Physics

There is evidence for a 130 GeV gamma-ray line at the Galactic Center in the Fermi Large Area Telescope data. Dark matter candidates that explain this feature should also annihilate to Standard Model particles, resulting in a continuous spectrum of photons. To study this continuum, we analyze the Fermi data down to 5 GeV, restricted to the inner 3 degrees of the Galaxy. We place a strong bound on the ratio of continuum photons to monochromatic line photons that is independent of uncertainties in the dark matter density profile. Neutralino dark matter is excluded by the derived constraints.

The world's most ambitious scientific experiment is buried 100 meters underground, straddling Switzerland and France.  A billion times every minute, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) slams together protons, while four giant detectors watch closely.

 So how does the Large Hadron Collider work?  Why can slamming tiny particles into each other provide clues about the nature of all space and time?  What mysteries are physicists trying to solve with data from the LHC, and what is the Higgs anyway?  What might we learn next? How does the cutting edge of particle physics relate to the world around us, from the patterns of stars in the sky to the fact that they shine at all?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 


So how
does the Large Hadron Collider work?  Why
can slamming tiny particles into each other provide clues about the nature of
all space and time?  What mysteries are
physicists trying to solve with data from the LHC, and what is the Higgs
anyway?  What might we learn next? How
does the cutting edge of particle physics relate to the world around us, from
the patterns of stars in the sky to the fact that they shine at all?