Linda Xu (UC Berkeley)

Abstract: The search for dark matter is indisputably now a multi-disciplinary and multi-decadal effort. Among models and methods that have expanded tremendously in scope, astrophysical indirect detection remains one of the best and sometimes only ways to challenge the well-worn–but undeniably compelling–notion of the thermal relic WIMP.   Among the best-motivated classical WIMP candidates, the most elusive under experimental scrutiny has been the nearly-pure thermal higgsino, which we are just now beginning to reach.  In this talk I will discuss the hunt for the higgsino across a range of astroparticle experiments ongoing and proposed, show the best we can do now, and how much better we can hope to do soon.

Bio: I'm currently a postdoc at UC Berkeley & LBNL, part of the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics.

My research interests are in the fields of particle theory and cosmology. I'm broadly interested in what cosmology and astrophysics can teach us about new particles and interactions, and much of my work is concerned with the particle nature of dark matter. I received my PhD in 2021 from Harvard University.