June 22, 2026 to July 18, 2026
Lead/Deadwood Middle School
US/Mountain timezone

Searching for Dark Matter in Mica

Jun 25, 2026, 10:00 AM
45m
Lead/Deadwood Middle School

Lead/Deadwood Middle School

(0.3 miles, 7 min walk from hotel)

Speaker

Andrew Buchanan (Queen's University)

Description

Speaker: Andrew Buchanan
Abstract: Many models of dark matter predict the formation of extremely heavy composite particles in the early universe, with masses well in excess of 10^20 GeV. Today, the fluxes of these particles would be too low to be detectable in direct detection experiments on human timescales. This motivates searches for dark matter signatures in minerals with billion-year lifetimes. I discuss prior searches and future prospects for detecting heavy dark matter both in plastic etch detectors and in muscovite mica.

Author

Andrew Buchanan (Queen's University)

Presentation materials

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