Discovery Scenarios

Mapping the Dark Universe

Deep underground in an old Minnesota iron mine, the CDMS II experiment is using highly sensitive detectors to search for the tiny wake left by dark matter particles streaming in from space. Astrophysics experiments, meanwhile, are searching for cosmic radiation produced by the annihilation of dark matter particles elsewhere in the universe. A signal from any of these dark matter detection experiments would give insight into dark matter properties, and strongly motivate the search for dark matter at the LHC and ILC.

In fact, physicists are already reporting tentative hints of signals in dark matter search experiments. Unfortunately, the interpretation of these experiments is uncertain, because two unknowns cloud them. Uncertainties about the properties of dark matter particles cannot be disentangled from astrophysical uncertainties, such as the spatial distributions and velocities of dark matter particles in the galaxy.

The ILC is essential for resolving these uncertainties, by discovering the precise properties of dark matter particles. Dark matter detection rates could then provide unambiguous probes of dark matter distributions. Just as traditional telescopes have mapped the luminous universe, the combination of linear collider data with other experiments and observations would map the dark universe, shedding light on the structure of the cosmos.