Related papers: Cold Dark Matter from the Hidden Sector
The QCD axion or axion-like particles are candidates of dark matter of the universe. On the other hand, axion-like excitations exist in certain condensed matter systems, which implies that there can be interactions of dark matter particles…
One of the most promising strategies to identify the nature of dark matter consists in the search for new particles at accelerators and with so-called direct detection experiments. Working within the framework of simplified models, and…
The identity of dark matter is a question of central importance in both astrophysics and particle physics. In the past, the leading particle candidates were cold and collisionless, and typically predicted missing energy signals at particle…
Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) are some of the most popular candidates for dark matter, with several viable production scenarios that make different predictions. In the scenario in which the axion is born after inflation, its field…
Observational evidence for dark matter can be explained by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). These dark matter particle candidates could indirectly be detected through the observation of signals produced as part of WIMP…
We investigate a scenario where the dark matter of the Universe is made from very light hidden photons transforming under a $Z_{2}$-symmetry. In contrast to the usual situation, kinetic mixing is forbidden by the symmetry and the dark…
Light-shining-through-walls experiments are the search experiments for weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs) with the smallest model dependence. They have the advantage that not only the detection, but also the production of the WISPs…
Astrophysical observations indicate that about 23% of the energy density of the universe is in the form of non-baryonic particles beyond the standard model of particle physics. One exciting and well motivated candidate is the lightest…
Axion-like particle (ALP) dark matter shows distinctive behavior on scales where wavelike effects dominate over self-gravity. Ultralight axions are candidates for fuzzy dark matter (FDM) whose de Broglie wavelength in virialized halos…
The axion arises in well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics and is regarded as an alternative to the weakly interacting massive particle paradigm to explain the nature of dark matter. In this contribution, we…
Axion-like particles (ALPs) are good candidates for mediators to the dark sector. We explore scenarios in which an ALP mediates interactions between dark matter and electroweak gauge bosons. These models yield testable electromagnetic…
We investigate a new type of dark matter with couplings to ordinary matter naturally suppressed by at least one order of magnitude compared to weak interactions. Despite the extra-weak interactions massive particles of this type (XWIMPs)…
Axion-like particles (ALPs) are hypothetical particles and compelling candidates for cold dark matter. Their existence could be probed through their conversions into photons in the presence of magnetic fields. In this work, we explore the…
Weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs) can be produced in stars through the conversion of non-thermal photons generated in nuclear reactions. Previous studies have generally treated these sources only at the level of their primary…
These lecture notes provide an overview of high-energy astrophysical processes involving axions, axion-like particles (ALPs), and other weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs) focusing on their potential observational signatures in…
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…
There is plenty of evidence that most matter in the Universe is dark (non-luminous). Particle physics offers several possible explanations. In this talk I focus on cold dark matter; the most promising candidates are then axions and the…
The ALPS collaboration runs a "Light Shining through a Wall" (LSW) experiment to search for photon oscillations into "Weakly Interacting Sub-eV Particles" (WISPs) often predicted by extensions of the Standard Model. The experiment is set up…
We explore the production of thermal dark matter (DM) candidates (WIMPs, SIMPs, ELDERs and Cannibals) during cosmic reheating. Assuming a general parametrization for the scaling of the inflaton energy density and the standard model (SM)…
In this thesis, we investigate various possibilities of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM) and their implications. These possibilities are important because they challenge the viability of WIMP DM in light of tight…