Related papers: DM production mechanisms
We investigate a cosmological scenario in which the dark matter particles can be created during the evolution of the Universe. By regarding the Universe as an open thermodynamic system and using non-equilibrium thermodynamics, we examine…
If the dark matter is produced in the early universe prior to Big Bang nucleosynthesis, a modified cosmological history can drastically affect the abundance of relic dark matter particles. Here, we assume that an additional species to…
About one-fourth of the universe is thought to consist of dark matter. Yet there is no clear understanding about the nature of these particles. Commonly discussed dark matter candidates includes the so called WIMPs or weakly interacting…
These lectures are intended to provide a brief pedagogical review of dark matter for the newcomer to the subject. We begin with a discussion of the astrophysical evidence for dark matter. The standard weakly-interacting massive particle…
We have strong evidence on all cosmic scales, from galaxies to the largest structures ever observed, that there is more matter in the universe than we can see. Galaxies and clusters would fly apart unless they would be held together by…
We describe a new mechanism of dark matter production in the early Universe, based on the dynamics of a first order phase transition. We assume that dark matter particles acquire mass during the phase transition, making it energetically…
We study production of dark matter (DM) in models with a non-standard expansion history. We consider both freeze-out and freeze-in mechanisms for producing the observed DM abundance in a model where the DM consists of scalar singlet…
The formation of the first stars in the high-redshift Universe is a sensitive probe of the small-scale, particle physics nature of dark matter (DM). We carry out cosmological simulations of primordial star formation in ultra-light,…
Assuming that Dark Matter is dominated by WIMPs, it accretes by gravitational attraction and scattering over baryonic material and annihilates inside celestial objects, giving rise to a "Dark Luminosity" which may potentially affect the…
Progress in observational cosmology over the past five years has established that the Universe is dominated dynamically by dark matter and dark energy. Both these new and apparently independent forms of matter-energy have properties that…
We present an overview of scenarios where the observed Dark Matter (DM) abundance consists of Feebly Interacting Massive Particles (FIMPs), produced non-thermally by the so-called freeze-in mechanism. In contrast to the usual freeze-out…
I begin by briefly reviewing the evidence for the existence of Dark Matter (DM), emphasizing that {\em many} observations, at length scales between kpc (the size of the smallest galaxies) and Gpc (the Hubble radius) can be described by the…
Dark matter may be composed of superWIMPs, superweakly-interacting massive particles produced in the late decays of other particles. We focus here on the well-motivated supersymmetric example of gravitino LSPs. Gravitino superWIMPs share…
The dark matter of our galactic halo may be constituted by elementary particles that interact weakly with ordinary matter (WIMPs). In spite of the very low counting rates expected for these dark matter particles to scatter off nuclei in a…
The class of `Asymmetric Dark Matter' scenarios relies on the existence of a primordial particle/anti-particle asymmetry in the dark sector related to the baryon asymmetry as a way to address the observed similarity between the baryonic and…
We review some recent determinations of the amount of dark matter on galactic, cluster, and large scales, noting some puzzles and their possible resolutions. We discuss the interpretation of big bang nucleosynthesis for dark matter, and…
It is discussed how the ideas of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, conceived long ago during the nineteenth century, underly why cosmological dark matter exists and originated in the first three years of the universe in the form…
A consequence of the evaporation of primordial black holes in the early universe may be the generation of mirror matter. This would have implications with regard to dark matter, and the number of light particle species in equilibrium at the…
We discuss the possibility to observe the products of dark matter annihilation that was going on in the early Universe. Of all the particles that could be generated by this process we consider only photons, as they are both uncharged and…
In an introductory manner, the nature of dark energy is addressed, how it is observed and what further tests are needed to reconstruct its properties. Several theoretical approaches to dark energy will be discussed. Finally, the dark…