Related papers: Reflections on the search for particle dark matter…
The identity of dark matter is one of the key outstanding problems in both particle and astrophysics. In this thesis, I describe a number of complementary searches for particle dark matter. I discuss how the impact of dark matter on stars…
In this article we address the mystery of dark matter. We expound the various evidences, astrophysical and cosmological, leading to hypothesize the existence of an invisible form of matter, whose attempts at detecting it have so far all…
I discuss some compelling suggestions about particles which could be the dark matter in the universe, with special attention to experimental searches for them.
Detection of a surprisingly high flux of positron annihilation radiation from the inner galaxy has motivated the proposal that dark matter is made of weakly interacting light particles (possibly as light as the electron). This scenario is…
In the absence of direct accelerator data to constrain particle models, and given existing astrophysical uncertainties associated with the phase space distribution of WIMP dark matter in our galactic halo, extracting information on…
There are many reasons to believe the present mass density of the universe is dominated by a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), a fossil relic of the early universe. Theoretical ideas and experimental efforts have focused mostly on…
In this letter, we explore the phenomenological impact of inflationary gravitational particle production in the physics of Dark Matter (DM). Large-scale DM fluctuations generated during inflation behave as gravitational particles upon their…
Cosmological observations and the dynamics of the Milky Way provide ample evidence for an invisible and dominant mass component. This so-called dark matter could be made of new, colour and charge neutral particles, which were…
To fully understand the present position concerning so-called dark matter, it is necessary to examine the historical background since, only by following this approach, do all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Here an attempt is made…
Over the last years, new physics in terms of a novel weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) has come more and more under pressure from experimental null results. While the remaining WIMP parameter space will be probed by next generation…
WIMPs, weakly-interacting massive particles, have been leading candidates for particle dark matter for decades, and they remain a viable and highly motivated possibility. In these lectures, I describe the basic motivations for WIMPs,…
It is discussed how the ideas of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, conceived long ago during the nineteenth century, underly why cosmological dark matter exists and originated in the first three years of the universe in the form…
Cosmological observations offer unique and robust avenues for probing the fundamental nature of dark matter particles-they broadly test a range of compelling theoretical scenarios, often surpassing or complementing the reach of terrestrial…
Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and strangelets are two classes of "exotic" particles not yet discovered, and in agreement with theoretical scenarios most probably produced in different early stages of evolution of the…
A claim for evidence of dark matter interactions in the DAMA experiment has been recently reinforced. We employ a new type of germanium detector to conclusively rule out a standard isothermal galactic halo of Weakly Interacting Massive…
This is a set of four lectures presented at the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI-09) in June 2009. I provide an introduction to experiments designed to detect WIMP dark matter directly, focusing on building intuitive understanding…
A major fraction of the mass content of the universe is composed of dark matter (DM), i.e. particles not interacting significantly with electromagnetic radiation, with ordinary matter or self-interacting (cold dark matter). The axion is…
The astronomical dark matter could be made of weakly interacting and massive particles. If so, these species would be abundant inside the Milky Way, where they would continuously annihilate and produce cosmic rays. Those annihilation…
Small-scale clumps of dark matter are gravitationally bounded structures that have masses comparable to or lower than stellar masses and consist of noninteracting or weakly interacting dark matter particles. In this paper, the current…
In spite or the large astronomical evidence for its existence, the nature of dark matter remains enigmatic. Particles that interact only, or almost only, gravitationally, in particular with masses around the Planck mass -- the fundamental…