Yale Physics Club
March 14, 2022 at 2:00PM
Via Zoom: https://yale.zoom.us/j/93877032663?pwd=UnYram1TS1VXUjNIdFpFTHZTRDVWdz09 (passcode: 863491)
Yonit Hochberg, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “New Directions for Light Dark Matter”
Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries of modern day physics, yet its identity remains unknown. In this talk, I will focus on light dark matter. From the theory side, I will discuss new theoretical developments that suggest light dark matter. From the experimental side, I will present new proposals for the direct detection of light dark matter which hold much promise. These include the use of superconducting nanowires, two-dimensional targets such as graphene, and heavy fermion systems. Considering dark matter interactions with these targets, I will demonstrate the potential of the light dark matter direct detection program in upcoming years.
Biography: Yonit Hochberg is a theoretical particle physicist at the Racah Institute of Physics in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Yonit obtained her PhD from the Weizmann Institute in 2013. She was then a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics and later an LHC Theory Initiative Fellow at Cornell. She returned to Israel as a faculty member in 2017. Yonit is an elected member of the Israel Young Academy of Science, and among other honors has recently been awarded the Bekenstein Prize of the Israel Physics Society and the Krill Prize of the Wolf Foundation.