Related papers: WIMP and Axion Dark Matter
Although dark matter makes up 80% of the gravitational mass of our Galaxy, its composition is not known. One hypothesis is that dark matter consists of massive particles called WIMPs. WIMPs are expected to accumulate and coannihilate in the…
In these lectures we first briefly review the main observational facts which imply that most part of matter in the Universe is not visible and some recent intriguing experimental data which would point to a significant contribution to Omega…
We address the question of whether the upcoming generation of dark matter search experiments and colliders will be able to discover if the dark matter in the Universe has two components of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). We…
The Peccei-Quinn anomalous global U(1)_{PQ} symmetry is important not only for solving the strong CP problem with a cosmologically relevant axion, but it may also be the origin of a residual Z_2 symmetry. This new symmetry may be…
Astronomical and cosmological observations of the past 80 years build solid evidence that atomic matter makes up only a small fraction of the matter in the universe. The dominant fraction does not interact with electromagnetic radiation,…
I discuss the essential features of the QCD axion: the strong CP solution and hence its theoretical necessity. I also review the axion and axino effects on astrophysics and cosmology, in particular with emphasis on their role in the dark…
Cosmology and particle physics are closer today than ever before, with several searches underway at the interface between cosmology, particle physics, and field theory. The mystery of dark matter (DM) is one of the greatest common unsolved…
The particle that makes up the dark matter of the universe could be an axion or axion-like particle. A collection of axions can condense into a bound Bose-Einstein condensate called an axion star. It is possible that a significant fraction…
One of the most interesting mysteries of astrophysics is the puzzle of dark matter. Although numerous techniques have been explored and developed to detect this elusive substance, its nature remains unknown. One such method uses large…
Dark matter is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in cosmology at the present time. About 80% of the universe's gravitating matter is non-luminous, and its nature and distribution are for the most part unknown. In this paper, we will…
Direct searches for dark matter lead to serious problems for simple models with stable neutral Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as candidates for dark matter. A possibility is discussed that new stable quarks and charged leptons…
We review the current status of axions as dark matter. Motivation, models, constraints and experimental searches are outlined. The axion remains an excellent candidate for the dark matter and future experiments, particularly the Axion Dark…
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) continue to be considered some of the best-motivated Dark Matter (DM) candidates. No conclusive signal, despite an extensive search program that combines, often in a complementary way, direct,…
Very weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs), such as axion-like particles (ALPs) or hidden photons (HPs), may be non-thermally produced via the misalignment mechanism in the early universe and survive as a cold dark matter population…
The strong CP problem of QCD is at heart a problem of naturalness: why is the F\tilde{F} term highly suppressed in the QCD Lagrangian when it seems necessary to explain why there are three and not four light pions? The most elegant solution…
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and axions are arguably the most compelling dark matter candidates in the literature. Could they coexist as dark matter particles? More importantly, can they be incorporated in a well motivated…
The current state searches for dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using both direct and indirect techniques is reviewed. Advances in recent years by various direct search experiments, utilising…
After a brief introduction to dark matter in general and to WIMPs as candidates, we review recent results of direct dark matter searches. We concentrate on older and more recent hints pointing to light WIMP's with mass below 10 GeV.
We propose that dark matter is composed of particles that naturally have the correct thermal relic density, but have neither weak-scale masses nor weak interactions. These WIMPless models emerge naturally from gauge-mediated supersymmetry…
Several aspects of the motivation for particle dark matter search are introduced. The experimental principles and present state of the most important experiments are presented. Direct searches for WIMPs are explained in some detail,…