Rebecca K. Leane

The overarching goal of my research is to reveal the fundamental nature of dark matter. My expertise is in new search strategies for dark matter, leveraging both terrestrial experiments and astrophysical systems. My research explores new dark matter research avenues such as planetary and stellar probes, novel uses of existing experiments and quantum sensors, and investigates potential dark matter signals in the latest astrophysical datasets.

Highlighted Publications

(asterisk implies alphabetically ordered author list)

8.  Sub-GeV Dark Matter Direct Detection with Neutrino Observatories,
R. K. Leane, J. Beacom
Submitted to PRL, [arXiv: 2503.09685 [hep-ph]].

7.  Search for Dark Matter Ionization on the Night Side of Jupiter with Cassini,
C. Blanco, R. K. Leane*
Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 261002 (2024) [arXiv: 2312.06758 [hep-ph]].

6.  Dark Matter Induced Power in Quantum Devices,
A. Das, N. Kurinksy, R. K. Leane*,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 121801 (2024) [arXiv: 2210.09313 [hep-ph]].

5.  First Analysis of Jupiter in Gamma Rays and a New Search for Dark Matter,
R. K. Leane*, T. Linden,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 071001 (2023), [arXiv: 2104.02068 [astro-ph.HE]].

4.  Exoplanets as Sub-GeV Dark Matter Detectors,
R. K. Leane*, J. Smirnov
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 161101 (2021), [arXiv: 2010.00015 [hep-ph]].

3.  Supernova Muons: New Constraints on Z' Bosons, Axions, and ALPs,
D. Croon, G. Elor, R. K. Leane*, S. McDermott
JHEP 01 (2021) 107, [arXiv: 2006.13942 [hep-ph]].

2.  Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess,
R. K. Leane, T. R. Slatyer
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 121105 (2020), [arXiv: 2002.12370 [astro-ph.HE]].

1.  Dark Matter Strikes Back at the Galactic Center,
R. K. Leane, T. R. Slatyer
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 (2019), 241101, [arXiv: 1904.08430 [astro-ph.HE]].

For my full publication list, see inSPIRE or Google Scholar.

I supervise SLAC postdocs, Stanford Graduate rotations, Stanford PhD theses, as well as summer undergraduate research at Stanford and SLAC. For an up to date list of possibilities, see here. If you are applying to Stanford for your PhD, please feel free to get in touch with any questions. If you have already been admitted, please feel free get in touch to discuss possibilities.

Latest CV is available here: pdf

Talks

I love giving talks! I have given over 100 invited talks worldwide; see CV for an up to date list.

Outreach and Press

My work has been featured prominently in the press, some examples are linked in my CV. See on the right for some outreach videos.

Public Lecture at Stanford University
Searches for Dark Matter with Astrophysical Objects

Video Interview, Universe Today
Interview with Dr. Rebecca K. Leane, Detecting Dark Matter

Get in touch

John, Leane, Linden, 2024

Blanco, Leane, Moore, Tong 2024

Leane, Beacom, 2025