Searching for Dark Matter with the ATLAS Detector

Dark matter’s presence can be inferred from gravitational interactions and astrophysical observations, but its nature is still unknown. If dark matter is a particle, then we hope to complement these observations from space and understand its nature and interactions by producing it in controlled laboratory conditions. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), hosted at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, provides such an environment. Dark matter particles could in fact be generated from the collisions of ordinary matter particles (protons) at the LHC. The ATLAS experiment, located at one of the collision points of the LHC, can detect the signs of dark matter particles and related phenomena. In this chapter, we outline some of the strategies used by scientists analysing the data from the ATLAS experiment to find signs of dark matter. We also outline how searches for dark matter at ATLAS complement searches for dark matter from the cosmos.