Talks

No known astrophysical mechanisms are expected to generate a significant high-energy flux of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs) from the Sun. However, some recently considered classes of dark matter models predict such a signal. We analyzed the CRE events collected by the Fermi-LAT during its first year of operation to search for a flux excess correlated with the Sun's direction, and found no evidence of a significant signal. I will discuss the constraints these results place on secluded dark matter models and inelastic dark matter models.

One of the most exciting, albeit slightly speculative, components of the Fermi mission is to search for evidence of energetic events related to dark matter decay or annihilation. The best targets for this search a regions where we suspect there is dark matter, but see few conventional gamma-ray sources such as molecular clouds, cosmic ray sources, or compact objects. Much emphasis has been placed on local dwarf satellites in particular, since many of these systems show evidence for relatively deep potential wells, but have few stars and no recent star formation. In this talk I will propose another possible target for indirect dark matter searches, among our nearby galactic neighbours.

The existence of dark matter is hardly in doubt, yet astrophysicists continue to search in vain for any non-gravitational signals of it. In the case of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) models, ongoing annihilation or decay of WIMPs to Standard Model particles could provide observable signals, e.g. as excess gamma rays in the center of the Milky Way or as excess ionization at high redshift. I will present our latest results on the most rigorous constraint from astrophysics: the effect of WIMP annihilation on the ionization history of the Universe, as recorded in the CMB.

A wide range of results have led to a confusing situation in the area of direct WIMP detection. I'll review the status of these results. The features of the results imply that almost any explanation will require a departure from standard assumptions (Maxwellian halo, elastic WIMP scattering or otherwise) so I'll review the techniques to compare experiments without appealing to these assumptions. In particular, I'll comment on the status of light WIMPs and the iodine interpretations of DAMA (such as inelastic dark matter) in light of the most recent results.

A charged particle can detect the presence of a magnetic field confined into a solenoid. The strength of the effect depends only on the phase shift experienced by the particle's wave function, as dictated by the Wilson loop of the Maxwell connection around the solenoid. In this seminar I'll show that Loop Gravity has a structure analogous to the one relevant in the Aharonov-Bohm effect described above: it is a quantum theory of connections with curvature vanishing everywhere, except on a 1d network of topological defects. Loop states measure the flux of the gravitational magnetic field through a defect line. A feature of this reformulation is that the space of states of Loop Gravity can be derived from an ordinary QFT quantization of a classical diffeomorphism-invariant theory defined on a manifold. I'll discuss the role quantum geometry operators play in this picture, and the perspective of formulating the Spin Foam dynamics as the local interaction of topological defects.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is now running (after a rocky start). This talk reviews why the start was rocky and how this constrains the physics program over the next few years. I will briefly survey how 'naturalness' arguments argue why something should be discovered, and why theoretical proposals fall into three main categories. If time permits I will close by telling you why I think the cosmological constant problem implies the LHC will strike paydirt and make quantum gravity an experimental science.