Related papers: Giant monopoles as a dark matter candidate
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…
We present an effective field theory describing the relevant interactions of the Standard Model with an electrically neutral particle that can account for the dark matter in the Universe. The possible mediators of these interactions are…
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…
Very weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs), such as axion-like particles (ALPs) or hidden photons (HPs), may be non-thermally produced via the misalignment mechanism in the early universe and survive as a cold dark matter population…
The dark matter distribution on small scales may depend on the the properties of the first generation of dark matter halos to form, which is in turn determined by the microphysics of the dark matter particles. We overview the microphysics…
The kinetic decoupling of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the early universe sets a scale that can directly be translated into a small-scale cutoff in the spectrum of matter density fluctuations. The formalism presented here…
Ultra-light scalar fields provide an interesting alternative to WIMPS as halo dark matter. In this paper we consider the effect of embedding a supermassive black hole within such a halo, and estimate the absorption probability and the…
It has been suggested that cold dark matter (CDM) has difficulties in explaining tentative evidence for noncuspy halo profiles in small galaxies, and the low velocity dispersions observed in the largest Milky Way satellites ("too big to…
We know that dark matter constitutes 85% of all the matter in the Universe, but we do not know of what it is made. Amongst the many Dark Matter candidates proposed, WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) occupy a special place, as…
Unveiling the nature of cosmic dark matter (DM) is an urgent issue in cosmology. Here we make use of a strategy based on the search for the imprints left on the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization spectra by the energy…
Dark matter is a vital component of the current best model of our universe, $\Lambda$CDM. There are leading candidates for what the dark matter could be (e.g. weakly-interacting massive particles, or axions), but no compelling observational…
One of the major challenges of modern physics is to decipher the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical observations provide ample evidence for the existence of an invisible and dominant mass component in the observable universe, from the…
Searches for dark matter (DM) constituents are presently mainly focused on axions and WIMPs despite the fact that far higher mass constituents are viable. We discuss and dispute whether axions exist and those arguments for WIMPs which arise…
More than one dark sector particle transforming under the same symmetry provides one stable dark matter (DM) component which undergoes co-annihilation with the heavier particle(s) decaying to DM. Specific assumptions on the kinematics and…
The details of what constitutes the majority of the mass that makes up dark matter in the Universe remains one of the prime puzzles of cosmology and particle physics today - eighty years after the first observational indications. Today, it…
We study an effective field theory which includes the Standard Model extended by a Dark Sector consisting of two fermionic $SU(2)_{L}$-doublets. A $Z_2$ parity guarantees that, after electroweak symmetry breaking, the lightest neutral…
A brief overview is given about some issues in current astroparticle physics, focusing on the dark matter (DM) problem, where the connection to LHC physics is particularly strong. New data from the Planck satellite has made the evidence in…
Weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) is well known to be a good candidate for dark matter, and it is also predicted by many new physics models beyond the standard model at the TeV scale. We found that, if the WIMP is a vector particle…
Serious searches for the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) have now begun. In this context, the most important questions that need to be addressed are: "To what extent can we constrain the WIMP models in the future?" and "What will…
The hierarchical clustering observed in cold dark matter simulations results in highly clumped galactic halos. If the dark matter in our halo is made of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), their annihilation products should be…