Description du projet
La matière noire et l’asymétrie matière-antimatière à l’échelle du téraélectronvolt
La majeure partie de la matière de l’Univers est constituée de particules encore inconnues, qu’on appelle matière noire. De plus, parmi toutes les espèces de particules connues, notre Univers ne contient que des particules et aucune antiparticule. L’origine de cet excès de matière ordinaire par rapport à l’antimatière et la nature de la matière noire comptent parmi les questions les plus fondamentales de la physique. Des expériences sondent aujourd’hui l’existence de particules dont la masse atteint plusieurs TeV. Ces particules lourdes pourraient constituer la matière noire ou avoir participé à la génération de l’asymétrie matière-antimatière. Leurs interactions devraient impliquer d’importants effets non perturbateurs, notamment la formation d’états liés. Le projet CosmoChart, financé par l’UE, étudiera ces effets sur le découplage thermique de la matière noire et la génération de l’asymétrie matière-antimatière dans l’Univers primitif.
Objectif
The origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe and the nature of dark matter are among the most fundamental and challenging questions in physics. Their undeniable importance has placed them in the forefront of the experimental and theoretical research in particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics. Our experimental probes are now at the outset of exploring the multi-TeV energy scale. To fully exploit the experimental effort, to design effective search strategies and correctly interpret the experimental results, we must develop reliable theoretical understanding of the plausible dynamics at this scale.
The TeV scale is a new threshold. In this regime, the interactions hypothesised in a variety of well-motivated theories manifest as long-range. This is true for the most widely studied particle-physics scenario for dark matter, particles coupled to the Weak interactions of the Standard Model, as well as many other models. Moreover, many theories of matter-antimatter asymmetry generation invoke heavy particles that couple to lighter force mediators.
Long-range interactions imply very different dynamics than the contact-type interactions most commonly considered in the past. They give rise to non-perturbative effects, with the most prominent being the existence of bound states. Such effects can change the experimental signatures very significantly. CosmoChart will comprehensively investigate the implications of long-range interactions along two directions:
I. The dark matter thermal decoupling in the early universe and indirect detection.
II. The particle-antiparticle asymmetry generation and washout.
The results will have implications for most experimental probes. As the long-range dynamics becomes increasingly more important at higher scales, the investigations of CosmoChart will chart particle cosmology at the TeV scale and beyond.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitution d’accueil
75006 Paris
France