Research Group of Prof. Kahlhöfer

My research concentrates on exploring new strategies to search for particles beyond the Standard Model that have evaded detection because of their extremely weak interactions, with a particular focus on the puzzle of dark matter. A comprehensive approach to this problem requires input from many different fields, such as collider phenomenology, astroparticle physics, finite-temperature field theory and cosmology, and I work on the interpretation and combination of data from all of these fields. I am also interested in the development of novel analysis strategies (using for example simplified or effective models), statistical methods and detection concepts, and how machine learning can be used in this context. Some examples of recent research topics include:

• Phenomenology of long-lived particles at the LHC and Belle II
• Searching for axion-like particles at fixed-target experiments
• Effective description of self-interacting dark matter on astrophysical scales
• Finite-temperature effects and phase transitions in dark sectors
• Model-building and detection prospects for sub-GeV dark matter
• Global fits of WIMP and axion models with machine learning