Physics Colloquium / Dr. Priscilla Pani: The quest for Dark Matter using LHC data

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Abstract: Astrophysical observations have provided compelling evidence for the existence of a non-luminous component of the universe: Dark Matter. However, very little is known of this elusive form of matter. If Dark Matter is a particle, it can be recreated in the high- energy proton-proton collision at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The LHC experiments have a vast and diversified experimental programme, designed in collaboration with the theoretical community, which aims to discover and precisely measure dark matter. In this talk I will provide an overview of this programme, outlining both the fundamental assumptions and the experimental challenges of this effort. I will also present an outlook to the future of such scientific program in view of the ongoing Run 3 data taking period and the preparation for the High-Luminosity upgrades.

Short bio: Priscilla Pani, born in Italy in 1986, is Group Leader of a Helmholtz Young Investigator group at the Helmholtz center Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY since 2018. She was awarded the Hertha-Sponer Prize in 2020 for her essential contributions to the search for Dark Matter n the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC. She held various coordination roles pertaining to dark matter searches including co-chair of the LHC Dark Matter Working group at the LPCC Center (2020- 2022). She was also awarded the 2023 ERC Starting Grant to implement an innovative method to search for light new particles that decay into pairs of bottom quarks.