Physicist Katherine Freese is set to deliver a lecture titled "The Mystery of Dark Matter in the Universe" at Brookhaven National Laboratory on November 20. The event, part of the BSA Distinguished Lecture series, will occur at 4 p.m. EST and is open to the public both in person at Berkner Hall and virtually via Zoom.
Freese's lecture will explore the enigmatic components of the universe, focusing on dark matter and dark energy, which together make up 95% of all known matter and energy. She will discuss historical discoveries from the 1930s and significant observations by Vera Rubin in the 1970s that highlighted dark matter's role in galaxies. Current data from various sources, including underground labs and CERN's Large Hadron Collider, will also be addressed.
Theorists suggest that dark matter may consist of new fundamental particles such as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), axions, or primordial black holes. Freese plans to provide insights into these theories along with evidence for dark matter's existence in galaxies. Additionally, she will touch upon "dark stars," potentially observed by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Katherine Freese holds several prestigious positions at the University of Texas at Austin and has been recognized for her contributions to cosmology and particle physics. Her book "The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter" was published in June 2014.
The BSA Distinguished Lectures are organized by Brookhaven Science Associates to engage both the laboratory community and the general public with topics of broad interest. This particular talk coincides with a workshop focused on bridging high-energy and nuclear physics research related to the upcoming Electron-Ion Collider facility being developed at Brookhaven.