Related papers: QCD-driven dark matter: AQNs formation and observa…
We suggest that dark matter is made up of massive quark objects that have survived from the Big Bang, representing the ground state of ``baryonic'' matter. Hence, there was no overall phase transition of the original quark matter, but only…
We consider a model in which dark matter is stable as it is charged under a Z2 symmetry that is residual after an A4 flavour symmetry is broken. We consider the possibility to generate the quark masses by charging the quarks appropriately…
We investigate the possibility that both the baryon asymmetry of the universe and the observed cold dark matter density are generated by decays of a heavy scalar field which dominates the universe before nucleosynthesis. Since baryons and…
We propose that the cold dark matter (CDM) is composed entirely of quark matter, arising from a cosmic quark-hadron transition. We denote this phase as "quasibaryonic", distinct from the usual baryons. We show that compact gravitational…
Recent lattice measurements have given accurate estimates of the light and strange quark condensates in the proton. We use these new results to significantly improve the dark matter predictions in a set of benchmark models that represent…
The evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe is reviewed. A general picture emerges, where both baryonic and non-baryonic dark matter is needed to explain current observations. In particular, a wealth of observational…
Cold Dark Matter (CDM) has become the standard modern theory of cosmological structure formation. Its predictions appear to be in good agreement with data on large scales, and it naturally accounts for many properties of galaxies. But…
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…
An unexpected explanation for neutrino mass, Dark Matter (DM) and Dark Energy (DE) from genuine Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) of the Standard Model (SM) is proposed here, while the strong CP problem is resolved without any need to account…
Axion quark nuggets (AQNs) are hypothetical objects with nuclear density that would have formed during the quark-hadron transition and could make up most of the dark matter today. These objects have a mass greater than a few grams and are…
Formation of stable domains filled with strongly correlated coherent quark matter is discussed in general terms and is exemplified further in the framework of the Generalised Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. It is argued that such domains, if…
A QCD axion with a decay constant below $ 10 ^{ 11} ~{\rm GeV} $ is a strongly-motivated extension to the Standard Model, though its relic abundance from the misalignment mechanism or decay of cosmic defects is insufficient to explain the…
Cold and dense nuclear and/or quark matter can be found in the interior of compact stars. It is very challenging to determine the ground state and properties of this matter because of the strong-coupling nature of QCD. I give a pedagogical…
We calculate the present expansion of our Universe endowed with relict colored objects - quarks and gluons - that survived hadronization either as isolated islands of quark-gluon "nuggets", or spread uniformly in the Universe. In the first…
We present a new scenario for the development of the Universe after the Big Bang, built on the conjecture that a vast majority of the primordial quark matter did not undergo a phase transition to normal nuclear matter, but rather split up…
Matter in its present form was formed when our Universe emerged from the quark-gluon phase (QGP) at about 30mus into its evolution. To explore this early period in the laboratory, we study highly excited matter formed in relativistic heavy…
Recent cosmological and astrophysical observations point out that the Universe is in accelerating expansion and filled up with non-luminous matter. In order to explain the observed large scale structures and this accelerating behavior one…
Cosmology and particle physics are deeply interrelated. Among the common problems are dark energy, dark matter and baryon asymmetry of the Universe. We discuss these problems in general terms, and concentrate on several particular…
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 $\Lambda$-CDM model of cosmology has done much to clarify our picture of the early universe. However, there are still some questions that $\Lambda$-CDM does not necessarily answer; questions such as what is the fundamental nature of…