Laplacian Heaviside Method for Compsite Dark Matter Scattering

Kimberly Cushman, Yale University

Photo of Kimberly Cushman

We know that dark matter (DM) makes up about 85 percent of mass in the universe, but we only understand its gravitational nature and nothing about its composition or the form of its interaction with "normal" matter. A compelling beyond-the-standard-model DM candidate is called Stealth Dark Matter, which, similar to a proton or neutron, is a composite particle whose constituents do interact with the standard model. However, the confining strong force makes these composite baryons invisible, analogous to a stealth aircraft. The baryon (aircraft) cannot be seen as a whole, but all the internal ingredients that make up the DM (planes) are highly visible.

In order to determine if Stealth Dark Matter could be the DM we observe gravitationally, we can compare astrophysical constraints of DM self-interaction to theoretical baryon-baryon scattering. Being a strongly coupled, confining SU(4) gauge theory, theoretical predictions must be measured computationally using lattice gauge theory.

In this presentation, we will discuss how such a baryon-scattering measurement would compare in computational complexity to current state-of-the-art QCD baryon scattering and explore solutions to the inevitable computational challenges. This will motivate our implementation of the Laplacian Heaviside method to construct low-rank interpolating operators with good overlap with low-lying energy states to improve signal in our correlation functions, thus improving our ability to extract scattering observables.

Abstract Author(s): Kimmy Cushman