NSF Award
2310224
This award funds the research activities of Professor Walter Tangarife at Loyola University Chicago.<br/><br/>The research of Professor Tangarife focuses on the interface between two of the most intriguing problems in particle physics: the nature of dark matter and the properties of neutrinos. Dark matter refers to an ingredient of the Universe whose astrophysical effects on galaxies and other astrophysical objects can be measured, but no other property is yet known. Neutrinos are particles within the so-called "Standard Model of particle physics” which are predicted to have no mass. However, experiments have shown that neutrinos are incredibly light but not massless. Research in these topics advances national interest by promoting the progress of science through the efforts to discover and understand the laws that govern the Universe. In his research, Professor Tangarife aims to explore testable models where neutrino physics and the dark matter problem are intertwined. This project will also have significant broader impacts. Professor Tangarife will involve undergraduate students in his research, providing them with critical skills of great utility in both academic and private-sector careers. He will also give public lectures on his research results and organize outreach events in local community high schools.<br/><br/>More technically, Professor Tangarife will investigate keV sterile-neutrino dark-matter models in the presence of self-interactions. New interactions enhance the production mechanism and provide signals to be probed in next-generation experiments, including DUNE. Additionally, self-interacting sterile neutrinos make good candidates for self-interacting dark matter, which may be relevant for small-structure phenomena. This project will also study the effects of secret neutrino interactions in astrophysical environments, such as the energy loss in binary systems and the cooling of supernovae. This would allow new constraints on the parameter space of new interactions. Finally, this project will investigate probes of the two-neutrino-exchange force via parity violation in atomic systems and new observable effects in intense neutrino backgrounds.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
