Michelson Postdoctoral Prize Colloquium | Ben Lehmann (MIT, Department of Physics)

Date: Thu. April 16th, 2026, 4:00 pm-5:30 pm
Location: Rockefeller 301
Add to Google Calendar

MPPL Colloquium (Thursday, April 16, 4-5:30pm, Rockefeller 301)

Testing the Particle Dark Matter Paradigm

Abstract: The unknown nature of the invisible dark matter in the universe already represents one of the greatest gaps in modern physics. But dark matter science has now reached a crisis: collider searches and direct detection experiments are quickly ruling out the strongly-motivated supersymmetric models that have guided theoretical and experimental progress for decades. Departing from this paradigm opens a dizzyingly vast space of candidates across the scales, and probing this enormous range of possibilities seems like an impossible challenge. However, this crisis obscures genuine progress: over the last fifty years, a diverse suite of robust, model-independent tests has taught us a great deal about the properties of dark matter, and there is a clear path forward to rapidly expand this body of knowledge. I will outline the potential of new and emerging technologies to make dramatic progress in the search for dark matter physics. In this talk, I will focus on one qualitative question: is dark matter particle-like at all? I will explain how a collection of new systems, from exotic materials to distant astrophysical objects, can be turned into particle detectors, enabling us to search for the behaviors of particle dark matter across a much wider range of candidates. These probes will help us to quickly close in on an answer to this fundamental question, whether the putative dark matter particle is lighter than an electron or heavier than the Sun.

[BEN LEHMANN, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, has been named the winner of this year’s MICHELSON POSTDOCTORAL PRIZE, and will spend one week in residence during the week of April 13, 2026, on the Case Western Reserve University campus. This year marks the 27th annual MICHELSON POSTDOCTORAL PRIZE LECTURESHIP, awarded each year to a junior scholar active in any field of physics. As part of his residency, Dr. Lehmann will deliver two (2) technical lectures and a colloquium.  The lectureship also carries an award of $3,000 plus travel expenses.]