Table of Contents
Preface v
About the Author ix
Acknowledgments xi
Chapter 1 Particle Dark Matter: The Name of the Game 1
1.1 Praeludium 1
1.2 There is more matter than the matter that shines - classical (mechanical) evidences 2
1.3 X-ray hales 11
1.4 Weak Sensing 13
1.5 A simple subtraction 16
1.6 Timely structure formation 18
1.7 The dark matter density and velocity distribution 21
1.8 Can "dark" baryons fit the bill? 24
1.9 Cross features of a decent dark matter particle 28
1.10 Outline of the book 32
Chapter 2 The Thermal Relic Paradigm: Zeroth-Order Lessons from Cosmology 33
2.1 Praeludium 33
2.2 Thermal relics 34
2.3 Hot and cold thermal relics 36
2.4 How heavy and how light can cold relics be? 42
Chapter 3 The Thermal Relic Paradigm: A Closer Look 47
3.1 Praeludium 47
3.2 The Boltzmann equation 48
3.3 Three classic (and important) caveats to the standard story 56
3.4 Modified thermal history: a quintessential example 61
3.5 Non-thermal dark matter production and asymmetric dark matter 63
3.6 Kinetic decoupling and the smallest dark matter halos 64
3.7 Lesser known stories and miracles of SIDMs, SIMPs, ELDERs, semi-annihilation, freeze-in, and FIMPs 69
Chapter 4 The Art of WIMP Direct Detection 77
4.1 Praeludium 77
4.2 Why direct detection is a tough business 80
4.3 Direct detection event rates, for real 83
4.4 Taking it spin by spin 89
4.5 The neutrino floor 95
Chapter 5 Indirect Dark Matter Searches 99
5.1 Praeludium 99
5.2 The ingredients of indirect dark matter searches 100
5.3 Indirect detection: warm-up lap 106
5.4 Charged cosmic rays 108
5.5 The tiny neutral ones 119
5.6 Light from dark matter 124
Chapter 6 Searching for Dark Matter with Particle Colliders 131
6.1 Praeludium 131
6.2 Examples from supersymmetry and UED 133
6.3 Effective theory approach 139
6.4 Simplified models 142
6.5 Invisible Higgs decays to dark matter 144
Chapter 7 Axions and Axion-like Particles as Dark Matter 147
7.1 Praeludium 147
7.2 Axions and stars 151
7.3 Axion production 155
7.4 Axion detection 161
Chapter 8 Sterile Neutrinos as Dark Matter Particles 167
8.1 Praeludium 167
8.2 Sterile neutrino dark matter? 169
8.3 Sterile neutrino production 171
8.4 Sterile neutrino dark matter, and how to discover it 175
Chapter 9 Bestiarium: A Short, Biased Compendium of Notable Dark Matter Particle Candidates and Models 185
9.1 Praeludium 185
9.2 Of gravitinos and other depressing dark matter candidates 186
9.3 Superheavy dark matter: WIMPzillas! 195
9.4 Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) 201
9.5 Asymmetric dark matter 206
9.6 What does "minimality" mean, and how does it look like? 210
Appendix A Rudimentary Particle Physics 223
A.1 The magic world of natural units 223
A.2 Cross sections and decay widths 225
A.3 Effective theories in a nutshell 227
A.4 A succinct primer on neutralino dark matter 232
A.5 A succinct primer on (minimal) universal extra dimension's (UED) Kaluza-Klein dark matter 237
Appendix B Rudimentary Cosmology 241
B.1 Friedman-Robertson-Walker cosmology 241
B.2 Thermodynamics of the early universe 244
B.3 Thermal decoupling 248
Bibliography 251
Index 267