Towards detecting the invisible: Dark Matter

Dark matter is considered a key element in explaining the evolution of our Universe, including the emergence of stars, planets and even life. Representing 85% of the total mass in our Universe, dark matter has never been directly detected on Earth, making it one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of modern cosmology. Searches for dark matter have been conducted for more than fifty years and have reached such sophistication that new sources of background have to be considered. After reviewing the importance of dark matter and the evidence for its existence, I will present our current efforts in Canada to overcome the challenges of its detection and the innovative technologies being developed to help unravel the mystery of dark matter and advance our understanding of our Universe.

Marie-Cécile Piro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Alberta and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Dalhousie University. She obtained her PhD in experimental particle physics at the Université de Montréal, as part of the PICASSO project, where she studied the detection of dark matter using superheated droplet detectors. Her postdoctoral research took her to France where she was awarded the CEA-Enhanced EuroTalents grant to work on ultra-pure germanium bolometers as part of the EDELWEISS experiment at the Modane underground laboratory. She then continued her research in the United States and Italy, as a research associate in the XENON1T collaboration at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory. In 2024, she was awarded the National Dorothy Killam Fellowship, in recognition of her innovative contributions to the advancement of dark matter research. She also collaborates with the muon-paleotopometry group at Dalhousie University, using cosmic ray muons to study the history of relief formation in the Earth.