Institute for Advanced Study Informal Astrophysics Seminar

ABSTRACT: New physics at the electro-weak scale might unlock the mysteries of the generation of the (baryonic) matter-antimatter asymmetry and of the particle nature of dark matter. I will review recent progress on understanding baryogenesis at the electro-weak phase transition, and the multitude of experimental tests that this scenario offers, including collider, gravity waves and electric dipole moment searches. I will argue that this scenario is firmly falsifiable, with a time-line of only a few years. I will then discuss searches for weak-scale particle dark matter in astrophysical data, including an updated review of controversial signals in cosmic-ray and gamma-ray data. I will address the question of whether it is feasible to learn about New Physics "from the Sky", and outline theoretical and observational strategies for a roadmap towards the discovery of the nature of dark matter.