TBA

• Gordan Krnjaic (Fermilab)

TBA

• Katelin Schutz

TBA

• Patrick Fox

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• Gopolang Mohlabeng (University of California, Irvine)

TBA

• Akshay Ghalsasi (University of Pittsburgh)

TBA

• Asimina Arvanitaki

Dark matter drag on Saturn's Rings

• Zachary Picker (Queen's University, Kingston)

If dark matter is sufficiently light, it can coherently scatter with macroscopic objects, greatly enhancing its scattering cross-section. This allows the wind of dark matter through our Solar System to apply sizeable forces on objects. It turns out that the ideal size of object for which the coherent effect is maximized but the acceleration is still large is in the 1-10 cm range. This motivates us to look for observational effects in the dense planetary ring systems in which these particles sizes dominate. We find that the dark matter creates a drag force on Saturn's rings which can be larger than the equivalent effect from Solar radiation, and which would affect smaller particles more than larger ones. It may have been possible to use this to constrain the dark matter---however, as it turns out, there actually *is* a yet-unexplained mass segregation which has been observed in Saturn's main rings.

TBA

• Miha Nemevsek (Jožef Stefan Institute and University of Ljubljana)

The SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment: overview and status of commissioning and the first science run

• Matthew Wilson (University of Toronto)

SuperCDMS SNOLAB is a cryogenic experiment projected to achieve world-leading sensitivity for dark matter particles below 10 GeV/$c^{2}$ using semiconductor crystal detectors. The experiment employs two detector types: iZIP detectors, which utilize both phonon and charge channels to provide excellent nuclear recoil/electron recoil discrimination, and HV detectors, which utilize the NTL effect to amplify the measurable phonon signal in proportion to an applied external electric field to achieve lower detection thresholds. Commissioning of the full 24 detector payload, comprising both silicon and germanium iZIP and HV detectors, began in early 2026. This talk presents preliminary results from the characterization and commissioning of the full detector payload, along with a first look at early SuperCDMS SNOLAB data. As the experiment begins its first science run, this talk will also discuss the experimental outlook and ongoing R\&D efforts aimed at developing the next generation of low-background detectors for sub-GeV dark matter detection.

TBA

• Alan Robinson (Université de Montréal)

Probing Inflationary Reheating with Dark Matter

• Yong Xu (McGill University)

The thermal history of the Universe before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) remains one of the least constrained epochs in cosmology, owing to the absence of direct observational probes. Reheating, which bridges the end of inflation and the onset of the radiation-dominated era, plays a central role in shaping the thermal history before BBN, yet its dynamics remain poorly understood. Since dark matter (DM) production depends sensitively on the thermal history prior to BBN, it can serve as a probe of reheating and, more broadly, of the pre-BBN Universe. Using representative examples such as sterile neutrinos, axions and ALPs, I will show how DM production and possible observational signatures can extract information about reheating dynamics and key parameters. DM is therefore not only a major cosmic component, but also a record of the cosmological history that shaped its production.

Mirror Stars

• David Richard Curtin (University of Toronto)

Exploring hidden sectors with the DarkLight experiment

• Laura Miller (TRIUMF)

The nature of dark matter remains one of the largest open questions in particle physics. Despite numerous theories and experimental searches, both small-scale and large-scale, it has so far remained unobserved at the particle level. The DarkLight experiment located at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada aims to leverage the ARIEL electron linear accelerator to search for a new dark sector force carrier in the 10-20 MeV range. Such a force carrier would undergo kinetic mixing with Standard Model photons, and could provide possible explanations for experimental anomalies like the X17. The DarkLight experiment was installed in 2025, and completed its first commissioning runs in early 2026. This talk will primarily focus on highlighting the results of this commissioning as well as future plans.

TBA

• Daniel Carney (Berkeley National Lab)

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• Thomas Brunner (McGill University)

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• Wei Wang (Sun Yat-sen University)

Direct detection searches for dark matter with liquid argon

• Simon Viel (Carleton University)

Liquid argon is an excellent target material in direct detection experiments searching for physics beyond the Standard Model. It is an abundant noble element, is transparent to its own scintillation light, and features exquisite performance in pulse-shape discrimination, enabling ultra-low-background searches. This talk will discuss results from DEAP-3600 and DarkSide-50 in the search for new particles, including light dark matter and solar axions. The sensitivity of next-generation detectors will also be explored: DarkSide-20k, a time projection chamber under construction at LNGS with essential Canadian contributions; ARGO, a 300-tonne fiducial mass detector being designed for deployment at SNOLAB; and AURORA, a proposed tonne-scale time projection chamber optimized as a low-threshold electron-counting measurement using only the ionization channel to have sensitivity to GeV-scale dark matter.

TBA

• Joshua Berger (Colorado State University)

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• Alejandro Ibarra (Technical University of Munich)

TBA

• Saniya Heeba (McGill University)

Advancing Science Underground: Capabilities and Research at SNOLAB

• Jodi Cooley (SNOLAB)

Located deep underground in Canada, SNOLAB is a world-leading facility for astroparticle physics and rare-event science, and a global hub for discovery at the frontiers of knowledge. Its exceptional depth and ultra-clean environment provide an unparalleled setting for next-generation experiments searching for some of the universe’s most elusive phenomena. This talk will explore SNOLAB’s unique capabilities, its role in the international research ecosystem, and highlight the scientific advances and innovations emerging from its program.