Dan Hooper

{{Short description|American cosmologist and particle physicist (born 1976)}}

{{about|the American scientist|the British environmental activist|Swampy (environmentalist)}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Daniel Wayne Hooper

|image = HooperLectures 2017.jpg

|caption = Dan Hooper lectures during Fermilab's Saturday Morning Physics lecture on January 7, 2017

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|12|16|df=y}}

|birth_place = Minnesota, United States

|field = Physics, Cosmology, Astrophysics

|known_for = Research in dark matter, particle physics, and cosmology

|workplaces = Fermilab, University of Chicago, University of Oxford, University of Wisconsin–Madison

|alma_mater = University of Wisconsin–Madison (PhD)

|doctoral_advisor = Francis Halzen

}}

Daniel Wayne Hooper (born December 16, 1976) is an American cosmologist and particle physicist specializing in the areas of dark matter, cosmic rays, and neutrino astrophysics. He is a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison{{cite web | url = https://inspirehep.net/authors/1019394?ui-citation-summary=true | title = Daniel W. Hooper | website = Inspire | access-date = September 29, 2024}} and the director of the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC).{{cite web | url = https://www.physics.wisc.edu/directory/hooper-dan/ | title = Dan Hooper | website = University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Physics | access-date = September 29, 2024}}

Hooper is the author of several books, including Dark Cosmos: In Search of our Universe’s Missing Mass and Energy (2006),{{cite web

| url =https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/december-2006/dark-cosmos-in-search-of-our-universe%E2%80%99s-missing-mass-and-energy | title =Reviewed: Dark Cosmos: In search of our universe's missing mass and energy | last =Lincoln | first =Don |author-link=Don Lincoln |date =December 1, 2006 | website =Symmetry: Dimensions of Particle Physics | publisher =Symmetry Magazine | access-date =March 9, 2018}} Nature’s Blueprint: Supersymmetry and the Search for a Unified Theory of Matter and Force (2008),{{cite web

| url =https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026766-100-review-natures-blueprint-by-dan-hooper/ | title =Review: Nature's Blueprint by Dan Hooper | last =Jamieson | first =Valerie | date =October 1, 2008 | website =New Scientist | access-date =March 9, 2018}} and At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds (2019).{{cite book | url =https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691183565/at-the-edge-of-time | title=At the Edge of Time | date =2019 | publisher =Princeton University Press | isbn=9780691183565 | access-date=January 25, 2020}}

Career

Hooper received his PhD in physics in 2003 from the University of Wisconsin,{{cite web |url=http://astro.uchicago.edu/people/dan-hooper.php | title = Dan Hooper | website = The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics | publisher = The University of Chicago | access-date = March 9, 2018 }} under the supervision of Francis Halzen. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford between 2003 and 2005, and the David Schramm Fellow at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) from 2005 until 2007.{{cite web |url=http://home.fnal.gov/~dhooper/ | title = Dan Hooper | website = Dan Hooper | publisher = Fermilab | access-date = March 9, 2018 }} He is currently a senior scientist at Fermilab{{cite web |url=https://physics.aps.org/authors/dan_hooper | title = Dan Hooper | website = Physics | publisher = APS Physics | access-date = March 9, 2018 }} and a professor in the astronomy and astrophysics department at the University of Chicago. He is also a member of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) at the University of Chicago.{{cite web |url=http://kicp.uchicago.edu/people/profile/daniel_hooper.html | title = Daniel Hooper | website = Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics | publisher = University of Chicago | access-date = March 9, 2018 }} Since 2017, he has been the head of Fermilab's Theoretical Astrophysics Group.

Hooper has authored or co-authored over 200 articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.{{cite web |url=https://inspirehep.net/author/profile/D.W.Hooper.1 | title = Hooper, Daniel W. | website = INSPIRE HEP | publisher = INSPIRE | access-date = March 9, 2018 }} The most highly cited of these papers includes a 2005 review of dark matter (co-authored by Gianfranco Bertone and Joseph Silk),{{cite journal | last1 = Bertone | first1 = Gianfranco | last2 = Hooper | first2 = Dan | last3 = Silk | first3 = Joseph | title =Particle dark matter: Evidence, candidates and constraints | journal =Physics Reports | volume =405 | issue = 5–6 | pages =279–390 | location =Amsterdam | date =2005 | language =en | doi = 10.1016/j.physrep.2004.08.031 | issn =0370-1573 | arxiv =hep-ph/0404175 | bibcode =2005PhR...405..279B | s2cid = 118979310 }} as well as a series of papers written between 2009 and 2014 on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope's Galactic Center excess and its possible connection to annihilating dark matter.

{{cite journal

| last1 = Hooper

| first1 = Dan

| last2 = Goodenough

| first2 = Lisa

| title = Dark Matter Annihilation in the Galactic Center as Seen by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope

| journal = Physics Letters B

| volume = 697

| issue = 5

| pages = 412–428

| location = Amsterdam

| date = 2011

| language = en

| doi = 10.1016/j.physletb.2011.02.029

| issn = 0370-2693

| arxiv = 1010.2752

| bibcode = 2011PhLB..697..412H

| s2cid = 118446838

}}

{{cite journal

| last1 = Daylan

| first1 = Tansu

| last2 = Finkbeiner

| first2 = Douglas P.

| last3 = Hooper

| first3 = Dan

| last4 = Linden

| first4 = Tim

| last5 = Portillo

| first5 = Stephen K. N.

| last6 = Rodd

| first6 = Nicholas L.

| last7 = Slatyer

| first7 = Tracy R.

| title = The Characterization of the Gamma-Ray Signal from the Central Milky Way: A Case for Annihilating Dark Matter

| journal = Physics of the Dark Universe

| volume = 12

| pages = 1–23

| publisher = Elsevier

| location = Amsterdam

| date = 2016

| language = en

| issn = 2212-6864

| doi = 10.1016/j.dark.2015.12.005

| arxiv = 1402.6703

| bibcode = 2016PDU....12....1D

| s2cid = 55631405

}}

{{cite journal

| last1 = Hooper

| first1 = Dan

| last2 = Linden

| first2 = Tim

| title = On the Origin of the Gamma Rays from the Galactic Center

| journal = Physical Review D

| volume = 84

| issue = 12

| publisher = American Physical Society

| location = College Park, MD

| date = December 15, 2011

| page = 123005

| language = en

| issn = 2470-0010

| doi = 10.1103/PhysRevD.84.123005

| arxiv = 1110.0006

| bibcode = 2011PhRvD..84l3005H

| s2cid = 119297851

}}

{{cite report

| last1 = Goodenough

| first1 = Lisa

| last2 = Hooper

| first2 = Dan

| title = "Possible Evidence for Dark Matter Annihilation in the Inner Milky Way from the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope"

| publisher = Fermilab

| location = Batavia, IL

| date = October 2009

| language = en

| arxiv = 0910.2998

| id = FERMILAB-PUB-09-494-A

| bibcode = 2009arXiv0910.2998G

}}

In 2017 he was elected to become a fellow of the American Physical Society, "For pursuing the identity of dark matter by combining careful analysis of observational data with theoretical ideas from both particle physics and astrophysics."{{cite web

| url = http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm

| title = APS Fellow Archive

| website = APS Physics

| publisher = American Physical Society

| access-date = March 9, 2018

}}

On September 9, 2024, Hooper will begin his role as the director of the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC). He will hold a joint faculty appointment at the UW-Madison Department of Physics. {{cite web |last1=Kassulke |first1=Natasha |title=UW–Madison alum and theoretical physicist named WIPAC director |url=https://research.wisc.edu/uncategorized/2024/07/26/uw-madison-alum-and-theoretical-physicist-named-wipac-director/}}

Popular books and podcast

Hooper is the author of two books published by Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins. The first, Dark Cosmos: In Search of our Universe’s Missing Mass and Energy (2006) was named a notable book by Seed Magazine.

{{cite web

| url = https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061130335/dark-cosmos

| title = Dark Cosmos

| website = Harper Collins Publishers

| access-date = March 9, 2018}} His second book, Nature’s Blueprint: Supersymmetry and the Search for a Unified Theory of Matter and Force (2008), was called "essential reading" by New Scientist.

Hooper's third book is At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds (2019), published by Princeton University Press.

Since 2020, Dan Hooper and Shalma Wegsman have run the physics podcast Why This Universe? which appears every other week.{{Cite web |title=Why This Universe? - YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/@whythisuniverse1488/about |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=www.youtube.com}}

In popular culture

Hooper has also written for popular magazines including Astronomy,{{cite web

| url = http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/five-questions-david-eicher/2017/05/five-questions-podcast-with-dan-hooper

| title = 5 Questions With David J Eicher: Episode 5 – Dan Hooper

| date = May 4, 2017

| website = Astronomy

| publisher = Kalmbach Publishing Co.

| access-date = March 9, 2018

}} Sky and Telescope,

{{cite web

| url = http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/sky-2013/

| title = Sky & Telescope January 2013

| last = ((The Editors of Sky & Telescope))

| date = November 26, 2012

| website = Sky & Telescope

| access-date = March 9, 2018}}

and New Scientist,

{{cite web

| url = https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927982.800-dark-matter-the-evidence/

| title = Dark Matter: The Evidence

| last = Hooper

| first = Dan

| date = February 2, 2011

| website = New Scientist

| access-date = March 9, 2018}} and appeared on television and radio programs including Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman (season 4), BBC's Horizon,{{cite web

| url = https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5994185/

| title = Dan Hooper

| website = IMDB

| publisher = Internet Movie Database

| access-date = March 9, 2018

}} BBC World News, Space's Deepest Secrets, and NPR's Science Friday.{{cite web

| url = https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=94110460

| title = Massive Particle Accelerator Is Ready To Go

| date = August 29, 2008

| website = NPR WBEZ

| publisher = National Public Radio

| access-date = March 9, 2018}}{{cite web