Related papers: Clumpy Cold Dark Matter and Biological Extinctions
Well known scaling laws among the structural properties of the dark and the luminous matter in disc systems are too complex to be arisen by two inert components that just share the same gravitational field. This brings us to critically…
Dark matter caustics are small scale, high density structures believed to exist in galaxies like ours. If the dark matter consists of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, these caustics may be detected by means of the gamma rays produced…
The Cold Dark Matter model describes successfully our Universe on large scales, as has been verified by a wide range of observations. Nevertheless, in the last years, and especially with the advances in numerical simulations, a number of…
The existence of exact solutions which represent a lattice of black holes at a scalar-field-dominated cosmological bounce suggests that black holes could persist through successive eras of a cyclic cosmology. Here we explore some remarkable…
Motivated in part by string theory, we consider a modification of the LambdaCDM cosmological model in which the dark matter has a long-range scalar force screened by light particles. Scalar forces can have interesting effects on structure…
Two general problems arise when interpreting the recent cosmic ray data as signals of Dark Matter (DM) annihilation: (i) the required cross section is too large by O(100), and (ii) the annihilation products seem to be mostly leptonic. We…
The more we go deep into the knowledge of the dark component which embeds the stellar component of galaxies, the more we realize the profound interconnection between them. We show that the scaling laws among the structural properties of the…
A series of brief reviews collected in the present issue present various candidates for cosmological Dark Matter (DM) predicted by models of particle physics. The range from superlight axions to extended objects is covered. Though the…
The distribution of the non-luminous matter in galaxies of different luminosity and Hubble type is much more than a proof of the existence of dark particles governing the structures of the Universe. Here, we will review the complex but…
Transiting exoplanets provide access to data to study the mass-radius relation and internal structure of extrasolar planets. Long-period transiting planets allow insight into planetary environments similar to the Solar System where, in…
Cold dark matter (CDM) constitutes most of the matter in the Universe. The interplay between dark and luminous matter in dense cosmic environments like galaxy clusters is studied theoretically using cosmological simulations. Observed…
Motivated by inflation, the theory of big-bang nucleosynthesis and the quest for a deeper understanding of the fundamental forces and particles, a very successful paradigm for the development of structure in the Universe has evolved. It…
Light dark photons are subject to various plasma effects, such as Debye screening and resonant oscillations, which can lead to a more complex cosmological evolution than is experienced by conventional cold dark matter candidates.…
Hierarchical structure formation leads to a clumpy distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way. These clumps are possible targets to search for dark matter annihilation with present and future $\gamma$-ray instruments. Many uncertainties…
The generic expectation in string/supergravity models is that there are multiple moduli fields with masses of the order of the supersymmetry breaking scale. We study the cosmology that arises as a result of vacuum misalignment of these…
Dark matter may be coupled to dark radiation: light degrees of freedom that mediate forces between dark sector particles. Cosmological constraints favor dark radiation that is colder than Standard Model radiation. In models with fixed…
Previous high resolution cosmological simulations predict the first stars to appear in the early universe to be very massive and to form in isolation. Here we discuss a cosmological simulation in which the central 50 solar mass clump breaks…
Even when completely and consistently formulated, a fundamental theory of physics and cosmological boundary conditions may not give unambiguous and unique predictions for the universe we observe; indeed inflation, string/M theory, and…
A key prediction of the standard cosmological model -- which relies on the assumption that dark matter is cold, i.e. non-relativistic at the epoch of structure formation -- is the existence of a large number of dark matter substructures on…
A comet-like, but magnitudes smaller, extremely low albedo interstellar meteoroid population of fragile aggregates with solar type composition, measured in space and terrestrially, is most probably the universal dark matter. Although…