Related papers: Dark Matter Experimental Overview
An ever-increasing body of evidence suggests that weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) constitute the bulk of the matter in the Universe. We illustrate how experimental data, dimensional analysis and Standard Model particle physics…
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…
Dark matter (DM) constitutes around a 25% of the Universe, while baryons only a 4%. DM can be reasonably assumed to be made of particles, and many theories (Super-symmetry, Universal Extra Dimensions, etc.) predict Weakly Interacting…
The recent WMAP data have confirmed that exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) dominate in the flat Universe. The nature of the dark matter constituents cannot be determined till they are directly…
It is now widely accepted that most of mass--energy in the universe is unobserved except by its gravitational effects. Baryons make only about 4% of the total, with "dark matter" making up about 23% and the "dark energy" responsible for the…
There is almost universal agreement among cosmologists that most of the matter in the Universe is dark, and there are very good reasons to believe that most of this dark matter must be nonbaryonic. The two leading candidates for this dark…
For the first time, we have a plausible, 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, 0.5%; baryons (total), 5%; matter…
About 80 percent of the matter content of the universe is dark matter. However, the particle origin of dark matter is yet to be established. Many extensions of the Standard Model (SM) contain candidates of dark matter. The search for the…
Dark matter, proposed decades ago as a speculative component of the universe, is now known to be the vital ingredient in the cosmos, eight times more abundant than ordinary matter, one quarter of the total energy density and the component…
From astronomical observations, we know that dark matter exists, makes up 23% of the mass budget of the Universe, clusters strongly to form the load-bearing frame of structure for galaxy formation, and hardly interacts with ordinary matter…
Non-baryonic, or "dark," matter is believed to be a major component of the total mass budget of the universe. We review the candidates for particle dark matter and discuss the prospects for direct detection (via interaction of dark matter…
The nature of dark matter (DM) and dark energy (DE) which is supposed to constitute about 95% of the energy density of the universe is still a mystery. There is no shortage of ideas regarding the nature of both. While some candidates for DM…
This write--up gives a rather elementary introduction into particle physics aspects of the cosmological Dark Matter puzzle. A fairly comprehensive list of possible candidates is given; in each case the production mechanism and possible ways…
One of the great mysteries of contemporary science is dark matter, an exotic substance of unknown nature that, in theory, makes up about 27\% of the total mass-energy density of the universe, and which does not appear to emit, absorb, or…
Dark Matter (DM) is an elusive form of matter which has been postulated to explain astronomical observations through its gravitational effects on stars and galaxies, gravitational lensing of light around these, and through its imprint on…
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…
One of the most puzzling problems of modern physics is the identification of the nature a non-relativistic matter component present in the universe, contributing to more than 25$\%$ of the total energy budget, known as Dark Matter. Weakly…
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…
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…
The most recent observations by the WMAP satellite provided us with data of unprecedented accuracy regarding the parameters describing the Standard Cosmological Model. The current matter-energy density of the Universe is close to its…