Related papers: Illuminating dark matter I: A guide for physics te…
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…
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…
Dark matter accounts for 26% of the mass-energy density of the Universe, however, its nature and origins remain the most important open questions in physics. The search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), one of the leading…
Among the great mysteries that physics has not yet solved are undoubtedly those of dark energy and dark matter. In this chapter we deal with the first of them. We will expound in detail the motivations that led to hypothesise the existence…
It would be hard to find a cosmologist today who does not believe that the vast bulk of the Universe (ninety-five percent or more) is hidden from our eyes. We review the evidence for this remarkable consensus, and for the latest proposal,…
Although well established observations on cosmological, cluster, and galactic scales strongly suggest the existence of dark matter (DM), our understanding of its non-gravitational properties is still lacking. I review basic aspects of…
Astrophysical observations suggest that most of the matter in the cosmos consists of a new form that has not been observed on Earth. The nature and origin of this mysterious dark matter are among the most pressing questions in fundamental…
Dark Matter (DM) is an elusive form of matter which has been postulated to explain astronomical observations through its gravitational effects on stars and galaxies, gravitational lensing of light around these, and through its imprint on…
Over the past few decades, a consensus picture has emerged in which roughly a quarter of the universe consists of dark matter. I begin with a review of the observational evidence for the existence of dark matter: rotation curves of…
In our current best cosmological model, the vast majority of matter in the Universe is dark, consisting of yet undetected, non-baryonic particles that do not interact electro-magnetically. So far, the only significant evidence for dark…
[A brief review intended for a general physics colloquium audience.] Astrophysicists now know that 80% of the matter in the universe is `dark matter', composed of neutral and weakly interacting elementary particles that are not part of the…
Dark matter is the name assigned to one of the most important contemporary challenges that fundamental physics research is facing. In recent years, the hypothesis that dark matter might be "light" is gaining interest. Following this idea,…
The nature of dark matter (DM) and dark energy (DE) which is supposed to constitute about 95% of the energy density of the universe is still a mystery. There is no shortage of ideas regarding the nature of both. While some candidates for DM…
The origin of the galaxies represents an important focus of current cosmological research, both observational and theoretical. Its resolution involves a comprehensive understanding of star formation, galaxy dynamics, the cosmology of the…
About 80 percent of the matter content of the universe is dark matter. However, the particle origin of dark matter is yet to be established. Many extensions of the Standard Model (SM) contain candidates of dark matter. The search for the…
For the first time, we have a plausible and complete accounting of matter and energy in the Universe. Expressed a fraction of the critical density it goes like this: neutrinos, between 0.3% and 15%; stars, between 0.3% and 0.6%; baryons…
In Cosmology and in Fundamental Physics there is a crucial question like: where the elusive substance that we call Dark Matter is hidden in the Universe and what is it made of?, that, even after 40 years from the Vera Rubin seminal…
The existence of dark matter was suggested, using simple gravitational arguments, seventy years ago. Although we are now convinced that most of the mass in the Universe is indeed some non-luminous matter, we still do not know its…
While astrophysical and cosmological probes provide a remarkably precise and consistent picture of the quantity and general properties of dark matter, its fundamental nature remains one of the most significant open questions in physics.…
We review the features of Dark Matter as a particle, presenting some old and new instructive models, and looking for their physical implications in the early universe and in the process of structure formation. We also present a schematic of…