DEC 11 (SUN) Online Event: Kavli IPMU x ICRR Joint Online Public Lecture: "The Forefront of the Exploration for Dark Matter"

November 4, 2022
Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU)

 

This coming December 11 (Sun), the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) and the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR) will host our 27th joint public lecture "The Forefront of the Exploration for Dark Matter". We look forward to seeing you there.


Event summary


Title: The Forefront of the Exploration for Dark Matter
Date: 1PM - 4PM, December 11 (Sun), 2022
Venue: Online (video records of this event will not be uploaded online afterwards)
Language: English and Japanese (with simultaneous translations)
Difficulty level: Junior high school level and above
Admission: Free
Venue capacity: None
Registration: Fill out a registration form here (Deadline: 4PM, December 9 (Fri))
Host: Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) and the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR)
Inquiries: TEL: 04-7136-5981  Email: koukai-kouza_at_ipmu.jp (Kavli IPMU Press office)
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Program


1:05PM-1:55PM 

The "Dark Side" of the Universe: The Mystery of Dark Matter

Elisa Ferreira (Kavli IPMU Project Assistant Professor)

All that we see in our universe, stars and galaxies, it is only a fraction of all matter in the universe. Of all matter, 85 per cent is made of a mysterious component called dark matter. We can measure the effects of dark matter on the universe, but no one has been able to understand the nature of dark matter. In this talk, I will go into how humans discovered the existence of dark matter, and what the current candidates are for this mysterious matter. I will also introduce a number of astrophysics research results that researchers hope will help them uncover the identity of dark matter.


1:55PM-2:45PM 

Stepping into the Second Generation of Dark Matter Detection Experiments

Shigetaka Moriyama (ICRR Professor)

What is dark matter, and how can we study it in a laboratory. These simple questions have motivated researchers from around the world for more than 40 years. It is believed that dark matter bounces off regular matter, and so researchers have been building instruments to find evidence of this, and have continued to take data. Around 2010 something big happened. Researchers had prepared a large amount of matter, and developed technology capable of observing the moment dark matter bounces off regular matter over a long period of time. Ten years on, we have now begun using second generation instruments that are an improvement of their originals. There is still a way to go, but I will talk about the lengths that researchers are going to in order to discover this historical dark matter.


3:00PM-3:20PM 

Cross talk with Elisa Ferreira and Shigetaka Moriyama

A conversation between the event's speakers.


3:20PM-4:00PM 

Ask a Scientist!

Speakers Elisa Ferreira and Shigetaka Moriyama will answer participant questions.