WI Seminar with Yu-Dai Tsai

Abstract: Most of the universe remains hidden from us: we have yet to understand the nature of dark matter, let alone detect it on sub-galactic scales, and many of the neutrinos’ properties remain unknown. This talk aims to provide a roadmap for addressing these open questions over the next decade. I will demonstrate how precision space missions may enable us to discover dark matter in the Solar System through its gravitational effects alone. I will also discuss how the development of quantum sensors and accelerator experiments, motivated by fundamental particle theories, can help probe the wave-like or particle-like nature of dark matter. In addition, I aim to detect neutrino–photon interactions for the first time through dedicated experiments and data analysis, taking the work from theory to discovery.

Bio:  Dr. Yu-Dai Tsai is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow at the University of Manchester, where he explores new paths to the Elusive Universe consisting of dark matter, neutrinos, and gravity. He received his PhD from Cornell University and previously held research positions at Fermilab and Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he was a Director’s Fellow. His work bridges theory, cosmology, and experiment to uncover dark matter across scales—including purely through gravity—using quantum sensors and solar-system probes, while understanding its role in cosmic evolution.