The nature of dark matter (DM) - the cold,
neutral entity comprising roughly 85% of all matter content in
the universe - is one of the biggest open problems in modern
astrophysics. One plausible class of candidate DM particles,
from beyond the Standard Model of physics, are Weakly
Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), ranging in masses
between ~GeV to hundreds of TeV. Such DM particles may
annihilate or decay in astrophysical environments to produce
photons and neutrinos that may be detectable on earth. The
search for the nature of DM is, therefore, closely tied to
precision measurements, of both point and diffuse sources of
ultra-high-energy ( > 10 TeV) Galactic and extra-galactic
emission. I will describe the efforts to survey the universe
in extreme energies with two on-going experiments - High
Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-ray Observatory, and the
IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory. In particular, I will
discuss how we use the high-statistics, continuous
measurements in neutrinos and gamma rays to search for
signatures of DM in a variety of astrophysical targets and
will present some of the resulting constraints on model
parameters.
About the Speaker:
Mehr Un Nisa is a postdoctoral researcher
at the Michigan State University working in particle
astrophysics. She works in neutrino and gamma ray astronomy
and is interested in multi-messenger astronomy with a focus on
searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. She obtained
her PhD from the University of Rochester in 2019.