New Horizons in Dark Matter Production and Detection
Name
moore-mamoore-phd-physics-2026-thesis.pdf
Size
5.38 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
a4879267a6ab3a6e0a00868ee0facab2
Author(s)
Moore, Marianne
Advisor(s)
Slatyer, Tracy R.
Date Issued
May 2026
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The nature of dark matter remains one of the deepest open questions in physics, demanding approaches that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. In my doctoral work, I have pursued such strategies, combining tools and insights from particle theory, cosmology, and planetary science to develop new theoretical frameworks and detection strategies to broaden the search for dark matter.
I explored the possibility that stable six-quark bound states, or sexaquarks, could contribute substantively to the dark matter abundance, clarifying the stringent conditions required for their cosmological viability. I showed that obtaining a cosmologically relevant abundance through thermal freeze-out requires an extreme suppression of strong interactions, while nonthermal production from late-decaying particles in a low-reheating cosmology can circumvent the thermal bottleneck, establishing a viable alternative production pathway. I derived new constraints from direct detection experiments and from antisexaquark annihilation in the Earth. In parallel, I established planetary atmospheres and interiors as new laboratories for dark matter detection, showing how ultraviolet airglow, ionospheric data, and planetary heat flow reveal previously unconstrained regimes, and demonstrating that different planets probe complementary regions of the dark matter parameter space. I also developed a mechanism that links heavy-neutrino dynamics to the joint generation of baryon and dark matter asymmetries, highlighting novel connections between the visible Standard Model and dark sectors. I identified a novel effect, called dark wash-in, in which wash-out processes transfer a dark sector asymmetry to the visible sector, enabling the observed baryon asymmetry to originate predominantly from transfers from the dark sector.
Together, these works illustrate how cross-disciplinary strategies can uncover new avenues to probe the dark sector.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Copyright retained by author(s)
Persistent DSpace Link
