Written in simple and accessible language, this non-technical introduction to cosmology, or the creation and development of the universe, explains the discipline, covers its history, details the latest developments, and explains what is known, what is believed, and what is purel…
"'Dark energy' is the name given to the unknown cause of the Universe's accelerating expansion, which is one of the most significant and surprising discoveries in recent cosmology. Understanding this enigmatic ingredient of the Universe and its gravitational effects is a very ac…
The next generation of neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay experiments and direct detection of dark matter require ultrapure detectors. The University of South Dakota is leading the development of ultra-pure germanium crystals. The project includes purification work through zo…
In the standard thermal history of the Universe, the energy density is dominated by radiation throughout the postinflationary era, until matter-radiation equality after big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). However, we currently do not have any observational probes of the pre-BBN peri…
The Heavy Photon Search (HPS) experiment is based out of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory in Newport News and is designed to test the potential existence of a new particle, the "heavy photon" or "A'," which has the potential to mediate interactions between da…
The genesis and history of the Universe cannot be explained by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, as confirmed by an overwhelming amount of astrophysical and cosmological observations. At the same time, a clear signal of new physics has yet to be seen in dedicated terr…
We explore physics Beyond the Standard Model in the dark matter and in the neutrino sectors. In both cases, we parametrize New Physics effects at low energy experiments with an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach. We then propose a dynamical solution of the fermion mass hierar…
My dissertation introduces a new account of how empirical methods and lines of evidence can come to bear on cosmological model-building. Through a careful study of the recent history of cosmology and dark matter research, I explicate a new type of justification for experiments, …
There is extensive evidence that 85% of the matter density in the Universe consists of “dark matter”. This evidence comes entirely from dark matter’s gravitational interactions with ordinary matter. Among the most important topics in particle physics today is to determine the pa…
Through their observable properties, the first and smallest dark matter halos represent a rare probe of subkiloparsec-scale variations in the density of the early Universe. These density variations could hold clues to the nature of inflation, the postinflationary cosmic history,…
I present an overview of the tools and methods of gravitational dynamics motivated by a variety of dynamics problems. Particular focus will be given to the development of dynamic phase-space configurations as well as the distribution functions of collisionless systems. Chapter 1…
