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Monday, 17 November 2025, 14:30 in P8445B
Dr. Afif Omar (UVic)
Probing Hadronic Dark Matter Annihilation with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
The first elements in the Universe were synthesized within a few minutes after the Big Bang, in the epoch known as Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). Precise measurements from astrophysical observations, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and nuclear reaction rates render BBN an essentially parameter-free theory, making it a powerful test of new physics. In this talk, I will show how BBN can be used to probe residual annihilations of sub-GeV thermal relic dark matter (DM). I will focus on candidates with velocity-suppressed annihilation channels and show that DM annihilation to pions and kaons beyond freeze-out, and their subsequent interaction with protons and neutrons prior to the deuterium bottleneck provide a sensitivity to annihilation that surpasses that of the CMB and indirect detection in the galaxy.
Upcoming Seminars:
2025-12-01 14:30 in P8445B - Kevork Abazajian (UC Irvine): Successes and challenges in neutrino cosmology and structure formation
Past Seminars:
2025-11-24 15:30 in P8445B - Gopolang Mohlabeng (SFU): Searching for light accelerated dark matter 2025-11-17 14:30 in P8445B - Afif Omar (UVic): Probing Hadronic Dark Matter Annihilation with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis 2025-11-10 14:30 in P8445B - Qinrui Liu (SFU): High-energy cosmic neutrinos: A unique window to the universe 2025-10-27 14:30 in SSB7109 - Levon Pogosian (SFU): A theorist's perspective on cosmological tensions 2025-10-20 14:30 in P8445B - Meng-Xiang Lin (SFU): Cosmological tensions and interactions between dark matter and dark energy 2025-10-10 14:30 in AQ3149 - Francis Halzen (University of Wisconsin-Madison): IceCube: The first decade of neutrino astronomy (physics colloquium)
[ See complete seminar archives | iCal feed ]
Modified by Andrei Frolov <frolov@sfu.ca> on 2025-11-24