Dark Matter In Astrophysics And Particle Physics

Dark matter and dark energy are one of the central mysteries in modern physics, although modern astrophysical and cosmological observations and particle physics experiments can and will provide vital clues in uncovering its true nature. The DARK 2009 Conference brought together World?s leading researchers in both astrophysics and particle physics, providing an opportunity and platform to present their latest results to the community. The topics covered are wide-ranging, from terrestrial underground experiments to space experimental efforts to search for dark matter, and on the theoretical aspects, from the generating of a fifth family as origin of dark matter, extra dimensions and dark matter to non-standard Wigner classes and dark matter. One of the new highlights was certainly a possible connection between a neutrino mass as observed by nuclear double beta decay and the dark energy. Highly important and relevant in its field, the book presents a vital snapshot of the sometimes seemingly disparate areas of dark matter research and offers an exciting overview of current ideas and future directions.

What is the dark matter that fills the Universe and binds together galaxies? How was it produced? What are its interactions and particle properties? The paradigm of dark matter is one of the key developments at the interface of cosmology and elementary particle physics. It is also one of the foundations of the standard cosmological model. This book presents the state of the art in building and testing particle models for dark matter. Each chapter gives an analysis of questions, research directions, and methods within the field. More than 200 problems are included to challenge and stimulate the reader's knowledge and provide guidance in the practical implementation of the numerous "tools of the trade" presented. Appendices summarize the basics of cosmology and particle physics needed for any quantitative understanding of particle models for dark matter. This interdisciplinary textbook is essential reading for anyone interested in the microscopic nature of dark matter as it manifests itself in particle physics experiments, cosmological observations, and high-energy astrophysical phenomena: from graduate students and advanced undergraduates to cosmologists and astrophysicists interested in particle models for dark matter and particle physicists interested in early-universe cosmology and high-energy astrophysics. Request Inspection Copy

TheFifthHEIDELBERGInternationalConferenceonDarkMatterinAst- and Particle Physics, DARK 2004, took place at Texas A&M University, College Station Texas, USA, October 3–9, 2004. It was, after Cape Town 2002, the second conference of this series held outside Germany. The earlier meetings, starting in 1996, were held in Heidelberg. Dark Matter is still one of the most exciting and central ?elds of ast- physics, particle physics and cosmology. The conference covered, as usual for this series, a large range of topics, theoretical and experimental. Theoretical talks covered SUSY/SUGRA phenomenology, which provides at present a preferred theoretical framework for the existence of cold dark matter. Also included were other possible explanations of dark matter such as SUSY Q balls, exciting New Symmetries, etc. The most important experiments in the underground search for cold and hot dark matter were presented. Talks describing the current experimental dark matter bounds, what might be obtained in the near future, and the reach of future large (i.e. one ton) detectors were given. The potential of future colliders to correlate accelerator physics with dark matter searches was also outlined. Thus the reader will be able to see the present status and future prospects in the search for dark matter. The exciting astronomical evidence for dark matter and corresponding observations concerning the Milky Way’s black hole, high-redshift clusters, wakes in dark matter halos were other important topics at the conference.

At least eighty percent of the mass of the universe consists of some material which, unlike ordinary matter, neither emits nor absorbs light. This book collects key papers related to the discovery of this astonishing fact and its profound implications for astrophysics, cosmology, and the physics of elementary particles. The book focuses on the likely possibility that the dark matter is composed of an as yet undiscovered elementary particle, and examines the boundaries of our present knowledge of the properties such a particle must possess.

One of the major open questions in high energy physics and cosmology is the nature and origin of dark matter. Dark Matter in Astrophysics and Particle Physics 1998 provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of research in this topical field. The book brings together leading researchers from around the world to review recent progress and future directions for research in the different approaches to the dark matter problem. It collects results from cosmology, large-scale structure, and accelerator and nonaccelerator physics. The book also reviews the correlations between and the virtues of each of the fields for the determination of abundance, nature, and origin of dark matter.

Dark matter in the Universe has become one of the most exciting and central fields of astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology. The lectures and talks in this book emphasize the experimental and theoretical status and perspectives of the ongoing search for dark matter, and the future potential of the field into the next millennium, stressing in particular the interplay between astro- and particle physics.