Phone: (773) 702-4197
Location: ERC 483
Email: dhooperfnal.gov
WWW: Web Site

My research focuses on the interface between particle physics and cosmology. Particle physics explores the fundamental nature of energy and matter, while cosmology is the science of the universe itself, including its composition, history and evolution. Some of the areas of this field that I have worked on include dark matter, supersymmetry, high-energy neutrinos, extra dimensions and ultra-high energy cosmic rays.

As the new field of astro-particle physics rapidly develops, we are witnessing an exciting time in the history of science. In addition to the progress being made in the traditional areas of experimental particle physics (accelerator experiments), exciting developments are also taking place in the use of astrophysical experiments to study elementary particles. The most striking example of this success is the measurement of the neutrino masses and mixing angles that have been made over the last decade. Many of the questions asked by particle physicists are difficult to address with collider experiments and are being explored ever increasingly by astrophysicists. These efforts include the development of particle dark matter searches, ultra-high energy cosmic rays detectors, gamma-ray telescopes and high-energy neutrino telescopes. My research is focused primarily, although not entirely, on studying and exploring particle physics beyond the Standard Model using astrophysics.

When I'm not doing physics, I'm often playing guitar, listening to records, fixing myself a cocktail, and/or curling up with a book on philosophy that I just haven't been able to understand yet.

Past Students

GRADUATE: Asher Berlin (2016), Christopher M. Kelso (2012)

2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010


Latest Journal Publications

1. "The Advanced Particle-astrophysics Telescope (APT)", Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, APC white papers, no. 78; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 51, Issue 7, id. 78 (2019) (Sep 2019)
2. "Dark radiation and superheavy dark matter from black hole domination", Journal of High Energy Physics, Volume 2019, Issue 8, article id. 1, 20 pp (Aug 2019)
3. "Superheavy dark matter and ANITA's anomalous events", Physical Review D, Volume 100, Issue 4, id.043019 (Aug 2019)
4. "$Z'$ Mediated WIMPs: Dead, Dying, or Soon to be Detected?", arXiv:1907.05893 (Jul 2019)
5. "A robust excess in the cosmic-ray antiproton spectrum: Implications for annihilating dark matter", Physical Review D, Volume 99, Issue 10, id.103026 (May 2019)
6. "Dark Radiation and Superheavy Dark Matter from Black Hole Domination", arXiv:1905.01301 (May 2019)
7. "Annihilation Signatures of Hidden Sector Dark Matter Within Early-Forming Microhalos", arXiv:1906.00010 (May 2019)
8. "Superheavy Dark Matter and ANITA's Anomalous Events", arXiv:1904.12865 (Apr 2019)
9. "Constraints on decaying dark matter from the isotropic gamma-ray background", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 03, article id. 019 (2019) (Mar 2019)
10. "Active galactic nuclei and the origin of IceCube's diffuse neutrino flux", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 02, article id. 012 (2019) (Feb 2019)
11. "Cosmology With a Very Light $L_mu - L_ au$ Gauge Boson", arXiv:1901.02010 (Jan 2019)
12. "Constraining Sterile Neutrino Interpretations of the LSND and MiniBooNE Anomalies with Coherent Neutrino Scattering Experiments", arXiv:1901.08094 (Jan 2019)
13. "Life versus dark energy: How an advanced civilization could resist the accelerating expansion of the universe", Physics of the Dark Universe, Volume 22, p. 74-79 (Dec 2018)
14. "History of dark matter", Reviews of Modern Physics, Volume 90, Issue 4, id.045002 (Oct 2018)
15. "Measuring the local diffusion coefficient with H.E.S.S. observations of very high-energy electrons", Physical Review D, Volume 98, Issue 8, id.083009 (Oct 2018)
16. "TeV gamma rays from Galactic Center pulsars", Physics of the Dark Universe, Volume 21, article id. 40 (Sep 2018)
17. "Resolving dark matter subhalos with future sub-GeV gamma-ray telescopes", Physics of the Dark Universe, Volume 21, article id. 1 (Sep 2018)
18. "Millisecond pulsars, TeV halos, and implications for the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess", Physical Review D, Volume 98, Issue 4, id.043005 (Aug 2018)
19. "Severely Constraining Dark-Matter Interpretations of the 21-cm Anomaly", Physical Review Letters, Volume 121, Issue 1, id.011102 (Jul 2018)
20. "WIMPflation", arXiv:1807.03308 (Jul 2018)

Latest Conference Proceedings

1. "Status of the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray and Cosmic-Ray Antiproton Excesses", 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2019), held July 24th-August 1st, 2019 in Madison, WI, U.S.A. Online at https://pos.sissa.it/cgi-bin/reader/conf.cgi?confid=358, id.521 (Jul 2019)
2. "The Fermi Galactic Center excess as a signal from Bursts of Cosmic-Rays", APS April Meeting 2017, abstract id. R5.007 (Jan 2017)
3. "Dark Matter Annihilation and the Origin of Synchrotron Radio Emission from the Galactic Center Filaments", American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #112.03 (Jan 2012)
4. "The Hunt For Dark Matter", American Physical Society, APS April Meeting 2011, April 30-May 3, 2011, abstract #A1.003 (Apr 2011)

Past Visitors:

1. Gordan Krnjaic, Fermilab (2019)
2. Surjeet Rajendran, UC Berkeley (2016)
3. Timothy Linden, UC - Santa Cruz (2013)