Flamsteed Lecture: The Hunt for Axion Dark Matter

The dark matter problem is 100 years old. 

We are in the embarrassing position of not knowing what most of the matter in the universe consists of. One idea is that a fairly obscure particle called the axion might constitute some or all of the dark matter in the Universe, and that axions might be all around us in enormous numbers, rather like neutrinos. 

After surveying the astronomical evidence for the existence of dark matter, Professor Edward Daw will describe a search for axion dark matter conducted at The University of Sheffield in a dilution refrigerator, and the connections of this research to superconducting quantum computing research. 

Meet the speaker

Ed Daw did his undergraduate degree in Oxford and his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in physics. 

The common theme in his research is searches for faint signals. He is a member of the LIGO scientific collaboration, which in 2015 announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves, and has also participated in searches for weakly interacting massive particles – WIMPs. 

He is a professor of physics at The University of Sheffield, and the principal investigator of a collaboration called Quantum Sensors for the Hidden Sector. Currently his main focus is on axion searches and other instrumentation projects at ultra-low temperatures. 

He is married to Anne, and has two grown-up children, Georgia and Eli. In his free time he plays the piano, tries to restore an old Mazda MX5, gardens, and cooks.

Please note that doors will open at 6.30pm, ready for the event to start at 7.15pm.

Dark matter (NASA, ESA, ESO, CXC & D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna))