Related papers: A counter-top search for macroscopic dark matter
We present some "back-of-the-envelope" calculations to try to understand cold dark matter, its searches, and extensions of the Standard Model. Some of the insights obtained from this exercise may be useful.
Cosmological nucleosynthesis calculations imply that there should be both non-baryonic and baryonic dark matter. Recent data suggest that some of the non-baryonic dark matter must be "hot" (i.e. massive neutrinos) and there may also be…
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…
Diffractive scattering of "fast" or "high energy" neutrons, can give low energy nuclear recoils in the signal region for dark matter searches. We present a discussion using the 'black disc' model. This permits a simple and general, although…
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…
Ever since the discovery of neutron stars it has been realized that they serve as probes of a physical regime that cannot be accessed in laboratories: strongly degenerate matter at several times nuclear saturation density. Existing nuclear…
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…
We have strong evidence on all cosmic scales, from galaxies to the largest structures ever observed, that there is more matter in the universe than we can see. Galaxies and clusters would fly apart unless they would be held together by…
Dark matter may be discovered through its capture in stars and subsequent annihilation. It is usually assumed that dark matter is captured after a single scattering event in the star, however this assumption breaks down for heavy dark…
The baryonic and cold dark matter are reviewed in the context of cosmological models. The theoretical search for the particle candidates is limited by supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. Generically in such models there are just…
The Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) makes a good Dark Matter (DM) candidate, since its relic density quite naturally comes out close to the cosmologically required value. This is true even in minimal Supergravity models with…
The mass of the dark matter particle is unknown, and may be as low as ~$10^{-22}$ eV. The lighter part of this range, below ~eV, is relatively unexplored both theoretically and experimentally but contains an array of natural dark matter…
Dark matter is thought to make up most of the matter density of the Universe, yet its true nature remains uncertain. Among dark matter theories, Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are a prominent candidate for dark matter because…
For nearly a century, more mass has been measured in galaxies than is contained in the luminous stars and gas. Through continual advances in observations and theory, it has become clear that the dark matter in galaxies is not comprised of…
Colliders, among the most successful tools of particle physics, have revealed much about matter. This review describes how colliders contribute to the search for particle dark matter, focusing on the highest-energy collider currently in…
Ultralight bosons such as axion-like particles are viable candidates for dark matter. They can form stable, macroscopic field configurations in the form of topological defects that could concentrate the dark matter density into many…
Many gravitationally lensed quasars exhibit flux ratio "anomalies" that cannot be explained under the hypothesis that the lensing potential is smooth on scales smaller than one kpc. Micro-lensing by stars is a natural source of granularity…
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…
Light (pseudo-)scalar fields are promising candidates to be the dark matter in the Universe. Under certain initial conditions in the early Universe and/or with certain types of self-interactions, they can form compact dark-matter objects…
We study the question of whether coherent neutrino scattering can occur on macroscopic scales, leading to a significant increase of the detection cross section. We concentrate on radiative neutrino scattering on atomic electrons (or on free…