Related papers: Dark matter in $R+R^2$ cosmology
The nonbaryonic dark matter of the Universe is assumed to consist of new stable particles. A specific case is possible, when new stable particles bear ordinary electric charge and bind in heavy "atoms" by ordinary Coulomb interaction. Such…
Drexler dark matter is an alternate approach to dark matter that assumes that highly relativistic protons trapped in the halo of the galaxies could account for the missing mass. We look at various energetics involved in such a scenario such…
Dark matter constitutes $26\%$ of the total energy in our universe, but its nature remains elusive. Among the assortment of viable dark matter candidates, particles and fields with masses lighter than $40 \mathrm{eV}$, called ultralight…
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…
We study the relic abundance of several stable particles from a generic dark sector, including the possible presence of dark asymmetries. After discussing the different possibilities for stabilising multi-component dark matter, we analyse…
We show that hidden hot dark matter, hidden-sector dark matter with interactions that decouple when it is relativistic, is a viable dark matter candidate provided it has never been in thermal equilibrium with the particles of the standard…
The relic abundance of thermal dark matter particles is generally assumed to be inversely proportional to their annihilation rate, which is therefore constrained by the present matter density, <sigma v> ~ 10^{-26} Omega_{dm}^{-1} cm^3…
The instability of dark matter may produce visible signals in the spectrum of cosmic gamma-rays. We consider this possibility in frameworks with additional spatial dimensions and supersymmetry. Examples of particles include…
There is a growing interest in the possibility that dark matter could be formed of weakly interacting particles with a mass in the 100 GeV - 2 TeV range, and supersymmetric particles are favorite candidates. If they constitute the dark halo…
A new concept of generation of the cosmological baryon excess along with the cold dark matter (CDM) in the Universe is proposed and corresponding scenarios are outlined. Possible realizations of the idea in the framework of supersymmetric…
We study the gravitational production of super-Hubble-mass dark matter in the very early universe. We first review the simplest scenario where dark matter is produced mainly during slow roll inflation. Then we move on to consider the cases…
Sterile neutrinos with keV masses can constitute all or part of the cosmological dark matter. The electroweak-singlet fermions, which are usually introduced to explain the masses of active neutrinos, need not be heavier than the electroweak…
The nature of the main constituents of the mass of the universe is one of the outstanding riddles of cosmology and astro-particle physics. Current models explaining the evolution of the universe, and measurements of the various components…
We consider heavy stable neutral particles in the context of supergravity and show that a gravitationally suppressed inflaton decay can produce such particles in cosmologically interesting abundances within a wide mass range $10^3 {\rm GeV}…
The origin of dark matter as a thermal relic offers a compelling way in which the early universe was initially populated by dark matter. Alternative explanations typically appear exotic compared to the simplicity of thermal production.…
The fundamental nature of Dark Matter (DM) has not been established. Indeed, beyond its gravitational effects, DM remains undetected by present experiments. In this situation, it is reasonable to wonder if other alternatives can effectively…
We review theoretically well-motivated dark-matter candidates, and pathways to their discovery, in the light of recent results from collider physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Taken in aggregate, these encourage broader thinking in…
Light gravitinos, with mass in the eV to MeV range, are well-motivated in particle physics, but their status as dark-matter candidates is muddled by early-Universe uncertainties. We investigate how upcoming data from colliders may clarify…
As previously observed the massless limit of massive gravity leads to a modification of general relativity. Here we study spherically symmetric solutions of the modified field equations which contain normal matter together with a dark…
It has been suggested that cosmological dark matter may include a population of vortons (meaning small centrifugally stabilised cosmic string loops) as an outcome of (non-standard) electroweak symmetry breaking. The implications for this…