Related papers: Trying to understand dark matter
In this review article the current status of particle dark matter is addressed. We discuss the main theoretical extensions of the standard model which allow to explain dark matter in terms of a (yet undiscovered) elementary particle. We…
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…
Despite several indirect confirmations of the existence of dark matter, the properties of a new dark matter particle are still largely unknown. Several experiments are currently searching for this particle underground in direct detection,…
I discuss recent progress in dark matter searches, focusing in particular on how rigorous modeling the dark matter distribution in the Galaxy and in its satellite galaxies improves our interpretation of the limits on the annihilation and…
Among the prominent low-mass dark matter candidates is the QCD axion but also other light and weakly interacting particles beyond the Standard Model. We review briefly the case for such dark matter and give an overview on most recent…
The nature of cosmological dark matter finds its explanation in physics beyond the Standard model of elementary particles. The landscape of dark matter candidates contains a wide variety of species, either elusive or hardly detectable in…
The negative outcome of searches for supersymmetry performed at LEP have been used to derive indirect constraints on the parameters of the most plausible models for cold dark matter based on supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model.…
A key prediction of the standard cosmological model -- which relies on the assumption that dark matter is cold, i.e. non-relativistic at the epoch of structure formation -- is the existence of a large number of dark matter substructures on…
I review the construction of Simplified Models for Dark Matter searches. After discussing the philosophy and some simple examples, I turn the attention to the aspect of the theoretical consistency and to the implications of the necessary…
The standard model of particle physics is marvelously successful. However, it is obviously not a complete or final theory. I shall argue here that the structure of the standard model gives some quite concrete, compelling hints regarding…
The majority of the matter in the universe is still unidentified and under investigation by both direct and indirect means. Many experiments searching for the recoil of dark-matter particles off target nuclei in underground laboratories…
The identification of the nature of dark matter is one of the most important problems confronting particle physics. Current observational constraints permit the mass of the dark matter to range from $10^{-22}$ eV - $10^{48}$ GeV. Given the…
The complementarity of direct, indirect and collider searches for dark matter has improved our understanding concerning the properties of the dark matter particle. I will review the basic concepts that these methods rely upon and highlight…
I review in a schematic way the current status of indirect searches for Dark Matter: I list the main relevant experimental results of the recent years and I discuss the excitements and disappointments that their phenomenological…
In this review, we discuss the role of the various experimental programs taking part in the broader effort to identify the particle nature of dark matter. In particular, we focus on electroweak scale dark matter particles and discuss a wide…
A review of the study of dark matter is given, starting with earliest studies and finishing with the establishment of the standard Cold Dark Matter paradigm in mid 1980-s. Particular attention is given to the collision of the classical and…
The cold dark matter model successfully explains both the emergence and evolution of cosmic structures on large scales and, when we include a cosmological constant, the properties of the homogeneous and isotropic Universe. However, the cold…
The discovery of nongravitational interactions between dark matter and the Standard Model would be an important step in unraveling the nature of dark matter. If such an interaction exists, it would have profound implications on how dark…
In the present work we examine the implications on dark matter searches of the possibility of a partial decay of a neutron into a dark matter particle, slightly lighter than itself. Such a scenario recently proposed is required to bridge…
These lecture notes aim to provide an introduction to dark matter from the perspective of astrophysics/cosmology. We start with a rapid overview of cosmology, including the evolution of the Universe, its thermal history and structure…