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The study of dark matter, in both astrophysics and particle physics, has emerged as one of the most active and exciting topics of research in recent years. This book reviews the history behind the discovery of missing mass (or unseen mass) in the Universe, and ties this into the proposed extensions to the Standard Model of Particle Physics (such as Supersymmetry), which were being proposed within the same time frame. This book is written as an introduction to these problems at the forefront of astrophysics and particle physics, with the goal of conveying the physics of dark matter to beginning undergraduate majors in scientific fields. The book goes onto describe existing and upcoming experiments and techniques, which will be used to detect dark matter either directly on indirectly.
About the author
Dr. Sarah Fearn is a Research Officer, Surface Analysis in the Materials Department at Imperial College London, where she conducts near- surface analysis of SOFCs and ionic conductivity measurements on nano-engineered structures. Her current research techniques include: isotope exchange, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy, and low-energy ion scattering (LEIS). She received her PhD in 1999 from Imperial College London and spent nearly two years as a commercial SIMS analyst with Cascade Scientific before joining ICL in 2002.
Summary
Highlights the application of Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) for high-resolution surface analysis and characterization of materials. While providing a brief overview of the principles of SIMS, it also provides examples of how dual-beam ToF-SIMS is used to investigate a range of materials systems and properties.
