Wooyoung Jang
University of Texas at Arlington
Dark Matter Searches in Space and in High Intensity Proton Accelerators
Dark matter hypothesized in the 1930s is thought to make up a quarter of the mass/energy in the universe. Experiments to elucidate the identity of dark matter have been conducted in various environments from subterranean to outer space. Of these, I will focus on two radically different ways of searching for dark matter. I will begin by discussing searches for cosmogenic dark matter in space, specifically at the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment. I will review the basic physics motivation of dark matter search in cosmic rays and will discuss how the dark matter signature in space is studied by measuring electron and positron flux in the AMS-02 detector. I will then discuss the recent efforts of searching for dark matter produced by high-intensity proton beams in future neutrino facilities. I will discuss the overall scenario of data analysis, leveraging the strengths of the detector, simulation, and analysis techniques used in these studies. I will conclude with dark matter search sensitivity at the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, the U.S. flagship neutrino experiment.