VI International Workshop on the Dark side of the Universe (DSU 2010)

Abstract

The main indications we have for physics beyond the Standard Model of fundamental interactions come from cosmological data. At the same time, the information collected from particle colliders as LHC or Tevatron shed light on the first moments of the Universe. This correlation between cosmological and astrophysical data and that from particles is so strong that that it has given birth to a whole new field, called astroparticle physics. This is a very active domain of research. It includes an impressive number of fundamental issues, such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the origin of the baryon asymmetry of the universe, neutrino physics, physics beyond the Standard Model, nonstandard cosmology, ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), gamma ray bursts, inflation, the nature of electroweak phase transition, detection of gravitational waves, proton decays, etc. With the advent of a new generation of large scale experiments - dedicated to the search for, e.g., dark matter, UHECR, and gravitational waves - the future of astroparticle physics looks very promising. Combining these results with the expected results from the LHC, it will be possible to strongly improve our knowledge of fundamental interactions beyond what is now called the Standard Model of electroweak and strong interactions. Topics in Astroparticle physics are highly multidisciplinary as they involve not only high energy physicists, but also astronomers, astrophysicists, cosmologists, etc. Thus it is very important to regularly hold forums where all these researchers with distinct, but overlapping, expertise can share their knowledge and problems.Since 2005, the "Dark side of the Universe" (DSU) International Workshop on Dark Matter has offered this possibility, inviting researchers from all over the world working on topics related to astroparticles to present their results. Since then, the DSU workshop has been organized each year in a new continent: in Seoul (2005), Madrid (2006), Minnesota (2007), Cairo (2008) and Melbourne (2009). In 2010, the DSU workshop was organized at Guanajuato University (campus Leon). Mexico has a long history of participation in international collaborations related to astroparticle topics (see for instance the Mexican participation in the Auger observatory). So it was a pleasure for us to welcome the 2010 edition of the DSU International Workshop.On behalf of the local and national organizing committee, we want to thank all the participants of the workshop. There were 97 participants from 15 different countries. We hope that all of the participants enjoyed their stay in Leon (Guanajuato).On behalf of the DSU2010 Local and National Organizing CommitteesDr David Delepine