Related papers: Dark Matter: A Primer
The current standard model of cosmology assumes that the majority of matter in the Universe is made of dark matter, and that the latter is fundamentally different from ordinary matter. Dark matter can in principle explain the rotation of…
For the first time, we have a plausible and complete accounting of matter and energy in the Universe. Expressed a fraction of the critical density it goes like this: neutrinos, between 0.3% and 15%; stars, between 0.3% and 0.6%; baryons…
A review of the development of the concept of dark matter is given. I begin the review with the description of the discovery of the mass paradox in our Galaxy and in clusters of galaxies. In mid 1970s the amount of observational data was…
Our standard model of the Universe predicts the distribution of dark matter to $1\%$ at the scales needed for upcoming experiments, yet our predictions for how the luminous matter -- which has interactions besides gravity -- is distributed…
Within the standard cosmological scenario the Universe is found to be filled by obscure components (dark matter and dark energy) for ~95% of its energy budget. In particular, almost all the matter content in the Universe is given by dark…
Modern cosmology successfully deals with the origin and the evolution of the Universe at large scales, but it is unable to completely answer the question about the nature of the fundamental objects that it is describing. As a matter of…
Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe. The remainder is a mysterious "dark matter" component, which does not interact via the electromagnetic force and thus…
This paper reviews statistical methods recently developed to reconstruct and analyze dark matter mass maps from weak lensing observations. The field of weak lensing is motivated by the observations made in the last decades showing that the…
In our current best cosmological model, the vast majority of matter in the Universe is dark, consisting of yet undetected, non-baryonic particles that do not interact electro-magnetically. So far, the only significant evidence for dark…
The nature of dark matter (DM), which is supposed to constitute about one-fourth of the universe, is still a mystery. There is evidence that much of the DM may be made up of as yet undiscovered particles with several experiments all over…
Dark matter is among the most important open problems in both astrophysics and particle physics. We review the status of art of dark matter search at theoretical and experimental level discussing also alternative hypotheses.
Dark matter is one of the pillars of the current standard model of structure formation: it is assumed to constitute most of the matter in the Universe. However, it can so far only be probed indirectly through its gravitational effects, and…
For nearly a century, more mass has been measured in galaxies than is contained in the luminous stars and gas. Through continual advances in observations and theory, it has become clear that the dark matter in galaxies is not comprised of…
Rotation curve measurements provided the first strong indication that a significant fraction of matter in the Universe is non-baryonic. Since then, a tremendous amount of progress has been made on both the theoretical and experimental…
We know from cosmological and astrophysical observations that more than 80% of the matter density in the Universe is non-luminous, or dark. This non-baryonic dark matter could be composed of neutral, heavy particles, which were…
It is now, generally, believed that the presence of some form of dark matter is essential to explain the flat rotation curves of galaxies, and anomalous large velocities of galaxies in the clusters and superclusters. This dark matter turns…
Although dark matter is a central element of modern cosmology, the history of how it became accepted as part of the dominant paradigm is often ignored or condensed into a brief anecdotical account focused around the work of a few pioneering…
Dark matter in galaxies, its abundance, and its distribution remain a subject of long-standing discussion, especially in view of the fact that neither dark matter particles nor dark matter bodies have yet been found. Experts' opinions range…
In this paper we review the main theoretical and experimental achievements in the field of Dark Matter from the Cosmological and Astrophysical point of view. We revisit it from the very first surveys of local astrophysical matter, up to the…
Dark matter is, arguably, the most widely discussed topic in contemporary particle physics. Written in the language of particle physics and quantum field theory, these notes focus on a set of standard calculations needed to understand…