Cold dark matter | EPFL Graph Search

In cosmology and physics, cold dark matter (CDM) is a hypothetical type of dark matter. According to the current standard model of cosmology, Lambda-CDM model, approximately 27% of the universe is dark matter and 68% is dark energy, with only a small fraction being the ordinary baryonic matter that composes stars, planets, and living organisms. Cold refers to the fact that the dark matter moves slowly compared to the speed of light, giving it a vanishing equation of state. Dark indicates that it interacts very weakly with ordinary matter and electromagnetic radiation. Proposed candidates for CDM include weakly interacting massive particles, primordial black holes, and axions. History The theory of cold dark matter was originally published in 1982 by James Peebles; while the warm dark matter picture was proposed independently at the same time by J. Richard Bond, Alex Szalay, and Michael Turner; and George Blumenthal, H. Pagels, and Joel Primack. A review article in 1984

Cosmology intertwined: A review of the particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology associated with the cosmological tensions and anomalies

Richard Irving Anderson, Hsin-Yu Chen, Frédéric Courbin, Fabio Finelli, Mikhail Ivanov, Melissa Joseph, Suresh Kumar, Julien Lesgourgues, Florian Niedermann, Emre Ozulker

The standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter (Lambda CDM) cosmological model provides a good description of a wide range of astrophysical and cosmological data. However, there are a few big open questions that make the standard model look like an approximation to a more realistic scenario yet to be found. In this paper, we list a few important goals that need to be addressed in the next decade, taking into account the current discordances between the different cosmological probes, such as the disagreement in the value of the Hubble constant H-0, the sigma(8)-S-8 tension, and other less statistically significant anomalies. While these discordances can still be in part the result of systematic errors, their persistence after several years of accurate analysis strongly hints at cracks in the standard cosmological scenario and the necessity for new physics or generalisations beyond the standard model. In this paper, we focus on the 5.0 sigma tension between the Planck CMB estimate of the Hubble constant H-0 and the SH0ES collaboration measurements. After showing the H-0 evaluations made from different teams using different methods and geometric calibrations, we list a few interesting new physics models that could alleviate this tension and discuss how the next decade's experiments will be crucial. Moreover, we focus on the tension of the Planck CMB data with weak lensing measurements and redshift surveys, about the value of the matter energy density Omega(m), and the amplitude or rate of the growth of structure (sigma(8), f sigma(8)). We list a few interesting models proposed for alleviating this tension, and we discuss the importance of trying to fit a full array of data with a single model and not just one parameter at a time. Additionally, we present a wide range of other less discussed anomalies at a statistical significance level lower than the H-0-S-8 tensions which may also constitute hints towards new physics, and we discuss possible generic theoretical approaches that can collectively explain the non-standard nature of these signals. Finally, we give an overview of upgraded experiments and next-generation space missions and facilities on Earth that will be of crucial importance to address all these open questions. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

ELSEVIER2022

Observable tests of self-interacting dark matter in galaxy clusters: BCG wobbles in a constant density core

David Richard Harvey, Richard Massey

Models of cold dark matter (CDM) predict that the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters should be cuspy, centrally concentrated. Constant density cores would be strong evidence for beyond CDM physics, such as self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). An observable consequence would be oscillations of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in otherwise relaxed galaxy clusters. Offset BCGs have indeed been observed - but only interpreted via a simplified, analytic model of oscillations. We compare these observations to the BAryons and HAloes of MAssive Sysmtes (BAHAMAS)-SIDM suite of cosmological simulations, which include SIDM and a fully hydrodynamical treatment of star formation and feedback. We predict that the median offset of BCGs increases with the SIDM cross-section, cluster mass, and the amount of stellar mass within 10 kpc, while CDM exhibits no trend in mass. Interpolating between the simulated cross-sections, we find that the observations (of 10 clusters) are consistent with CDM at the similar to 1.5 sigma level, and prefer cross-section sigma/m < 0.12(0.39) cm(2) g(-1) at 68 per cent (95 per cent) confidence level. This is on the verge of ruling out velocity-independent dark matter self-interactions as the solution to discrepancies between the predicted and observed behaviour of dwarf galaxies, and will be improved by larger surveys by Euclid or Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT).

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2019

Exploring beyond the Standard Model: the Heavy and the Dark

Kin Shanho Eliaou Mimouni

Physics beyond the Standard Model can appear as new particles too heavy to be produced in experiments (the energy frontier) or interacting too weakly to be seen in our measurements (the intensity frontier). In the first part of this thesis, we study two dark matter models of electroweak WIMP coming from two limiting cases in the MSSM: the Higgsino and the Wino model. The dark matter candidate is a particle too heavy to be directly seen in colliders but it could be seen indirectly by astrophysical observations. Dark matter particles in the galaxy can annihilate to Standard Model particles and be detected by satellites. We consider the charged neutral mass splitting as a free parameter in the theory and investigate its effect on the Sommerfeld enhancement which gives an important boost to the annihilation cross-section, the main observable of indirect detection. In the second part of this thesis, we present an idea of a fixed target experiment so search for dark sector models, a class of model with very weakly interacting particles. This experiment uses the experimental setup needed for a future muon collider but is independent from the muon collider program. We study the reach of our experiment for three benchmark models, the dark photon, the dark Higgs, the heavy neutral lepton and we compare its expected performances to current and future experiments. In the third part of this thesis, we consider a more model-independent approach to the search for new physics. If new states are heavy, they can be integrated out and their leading effects are encoded in effective operators made of Standard Model fields. Assuming baryon and lepton number conservation, one can classify the effective operators of dimension-6 which give the leading contribution and constrain the coefficient of these operators by looking at precision observables. We compile results from LEP-I and LEP-II experiments as well as neutrino scattering and other low-energy observables. We allow all operators to be present with an arbitrary flavour structure. Our result can then be used to translate these constaints to specific models of new physics.

EPFL2019