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Astrophysics, Gravitation and Cosmology Seminar - Leah Jenks (University of Chicago) "Cosmological Probes of Higher Spin Fields "

Speaker: Leah Jenks
Date: 10/5/2022
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Loomis 464
Event Contact: Brandy Koebbe
bkoebbe@illinois.edu
Sponsor: Department of Physics
Event Type: Seminar/Symposium
 

Higher spin (s > 2) particles appear in many areas of physics, but have generally been unexplored in the context of cosmology. In this talk, I will highlight recent work studying higher spins in several cosmological scenarios. I will first discuss the ‘cosmological collider’ framework and show how higher spin interactions during inflation can leave distinctive signatures on the non-gaussianity of the cosmic microwave background. I will then discuss higher spin particles as a dark matter candidate and show distinctive signatures that could arise in directional direct detection experiments.