Shaking Up the Dark Universe: The Dark Horses of Dark Matter

Forget what you think you know about dark matter. After a 30-year search for a single, as yet unidentified, species of dark matter particle that would make up some 25% of the mass of the universe, physicists are starting to consider novel explanations. Some envision invisible matter hiding within the folds of extra spatial dimensions. Others suggest not one kind of dark matter particle, but numerous species inhabiting a shadow universe. Others still conjecture that dark matter doesn’t exist, and instead propose that the laws of gravity need modification. We’ll bring together leading thinkers on dark matter—the revolutionary and conventional alike—for a distinctly unconventional discussion on the dark universe.
This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.
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Original Program Date: June 2, 2016
MODERATOR: John Hockenberry
PARTICIPANTS: Katherine Freese, Justin Khoury, Stacy McGaugh, Neal Weiner, Lisa Randall
The discovery of Dark Matter 00:05
John Hockenberry introduction 3:50
Participant Introductions 8:10
What is dark matter? 9:59
Lets talk about WIMPs 15:15
How do we detect dark matter? 17:45
The standard model looks incomplete 28:46
So you want to take apart Newton and Einstein? 37:49
What role did dark matter play in the early universe? 48:00
Can dark matter be a super fluid? 55:15
Will we understand dark matter better if we know about its origins? 1:02:28
What is the headline for the next big dark matter discovery? 1:07:46