Alternative to particle dark matter

Particle Dark Matter

There is plenty of evidence that most matter in the universe is dark (non–luminous). Particle physics offers several possible explanations. In this talk I focus on cold dark matter; the most promising candidates are then axions and the lightest supersymmetric particle. I briefly summarize estimates for the present relic density of these particles, and describe efforts to detect them. To appear ...

Particle Physics Approach to Dark Matter

We review the main proposals of particle physics for the composition of the cold dark matter in the universe. Strong axion contribution to cold dark matter is not favored if the Peccei-Quinn field emerges with non-zero value at the end of inflation and the inflationary scale is superheavy since, under these circumstances, it leads to unacceptably large isocurvature perturbations. The lightest n...

Dark Matter and Particle Physics

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 Standard Model of particle physics. I will summarize the evidence for dark matter. I will explain why I expect dark matter particles to be produced at the CERN LHC. We will then need to characterize the new weakly interacting ...

Particle Candidates for Dark Matter

Experimental Particle Dark Matter Search

After introducing several aspects of the motivation for particle dark matter search, experimental principles and the present state of the main experiments are presented. Direct searches for WIMPs are explained in some detail; indirect WIMP searches and axion searches are presented more briefly.