The first second of the Universe

The history of the Universe after its first second is now tested by high quality observations of light element abundances and temperature anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background. The epoch of the first second itself has not been tested directly yet; however, it is constrained by experiments at particle and heavy ion accelerators. Here I attempt to describe the epoch between the electroweak transition and the primordial nucleosynthesis. The most dramatic event in that era is the quark‐hadron transition at 10 μs. Quarks and gluons condense to form a gas of nucleons and light mesons, the latter decay subsequently. At the end of the first second, neutrinos and neutrons decouple from the radiation fluid. The quark‐hadron transition and dissipative processes during the first second prepare the initial conditions for the synthesis of the first nuclei. As for the cold dark matter (CDM), WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) – the most popular candidates for the CDM – decouple from the presently known forms of matter, chemically (freeze‐out) at 10 ns and kinetically at 1 ms. The chemical decoupling fixes their present abundances and dissipative processes during and after thermal decoupling set the scale for the very first WIMP clouds.     

Charged-particle decay and suppression of primordial power on small scales

We study the suppression of the small-scale power spectrum due to the decay of charged matter to dark matter prior to recombination. Prior to decay, the charged particles couple to the photon-baryon fluid and participate in its acoustic oscillations. However, after these charged particles decay to neutral dark matter, the photon-baryon fluid is coupled only gravitationally to the newly created dark matter. This generically leads to suppression of power on length scales that enter the horizon prior to decay. For decay times of approximately 3.5 yr this leads to suppression of power on subgalactic scales, bringing the observed number of galactic substructures in line with observation. Decay times of a few years are possible if the dark matter is purely gravitationally interacting, such as the gravitino in supersymmetric models or a massive Kaluza-Klein graviton in models with universal extra dimensions.     

暗物质及暗物质粒子探测

文章首先对暗物质的概念作了简单介绍,接着介绍了暗物质的发现过程和暗物质存在的证据等.随后,介绍了目前人们对暗物质粒子基本性质的理解和目前比较流行的暗物质模型,并解释了弱相互作用重粒子(WIMP)为什么获得人们最多的关注.文中还简单介绍了目前探测暗物质粒子的三种实验方法:对撞机探测法、直接探测法和间接探测法.最后,介绍了目前暗物质探测的最新进展,包括来自DAMA,CoGent,PAMELA,ATIC,Fermi等实验的最新结果.     

Direct detection searches for WIMP dark matter

A very active hunt is underway to discover the composition of dark matter in the universe. A large effort is devoted to the direct detection of dark matter through interactions with detectors in the laboratory. In this paper, we give an overview of the dark matter problem, discuss some of the design considerations taken in direct detection experiments, and describe some of the current efforts to discover Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), a well-motivated class of candidates for dark matter.     

Model for gravitational interaction between dark matter and baryons

We propose a phenomenological model where the gravitational interaction between dark matter and baryons is suppressed on small, subgalactic scales. We describe the gravitational force by adding a Yukawa contribution to the standard Newtonian potential and show that this interaction scheme is effectively suggested by the available observations of the inner rotation curves of small mass galaxies. Besides helping in interpreting the cuspy profile of dark matter halos observed in N-body simulations, this potential regulates the quantity of baryons within halos of different masses.     

Dark matters

Despite the new results on the estimate of cosmological parameters, the need for dark matter, both baryonic and nonbaryonic, galactic and intergalactic, is still with us. For baryonic dark matter the remaining possibilities are mostly either intergalactic hot gas or massive compact halo objects. For nonbaryonic dark matter the most likely candidates are the so-called WIMPs, the prototype of which could be the lightest supersymmetric particle. These particles are actively searched for at accelerators and, in our neighborhood, through direct detection or by their annihilation products.     

High-energy gamma-ray sources of cosmological origin

The current generation of instruments in gamma-ray astrophysics launched a new era in the search for a dark matter signal in the high-energy sky. Such searches are said indirect, in the sense that the presence of a dark matter particle is inferred from the detection of products of its pair-annihilation or decay. They have recently started to probe the natural domain of existence for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), the favorite dark matter candidates today. In this article, we review the basic framework for indirect searches and we present a status of current limits obtained with gamma-ray observations. We also devote a section to another possible class of cosmological gamma-ray sources, primordial black holes, also considered as a potential constituent of dark matter.     

Direct search for dark matter—striking the balance—and the future

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are among the main candidates for the relic dark matter (DM). The idea of the direct DM detection relies on elastic spin-dependent (SD) and spin-independent (SI) interaction of WIMPs with target nuclei. In this review paper the relevant formulae for WIMP event rate calculations are collected. For estimations of the WIMP-proton and WIMP-neutron SD and SI cross sections the effective low-energy minimal supersymmetric standard model is used. The traditional one-coupling-dominance approach for evaluation of the exclusion curves is described. Further, the mixed spin-scalar coupling approach is discussed. It is demonstrated, taking the high-spin ⁷³Ge dark matter experiment HDMS as an example, how one can drastically improve the sensitivity of the exclusion curves within the mixed spin-scalar coupling approach, as well as due to a new procedure of background subtraction from the measured spectrum. A general discussion on the information obtained from exclusion curves is given. The necessity of clear WIMP direct detection signatures for a solution of the dark matter problem, is pointed out.     

Predicted Modulated Differential Rates for Direct WIMP Searches at Low Energy Transfers

The differential event rate for direct detection of dark matter,both the time averaged and the modulated one due to the motion of the Earth,are discussed.The calculations focus on relatively light cold dark matter candidates (WIMP) and low energy transfers.It is shown that for sufficiently light WIMPs the extraction of relatively large nucleon cross sections is possible.Furthermore for some WIMP masses the modulation amplitude may change sign,meaning that,in such a case,the maximum rate may occur six months later than naively expected.This effect can be exploited to yield information about the mass of the dark matter candidate,if and when the observation of the modulation of the event rate is established.     

Quantum gravity and dark matter

We propose a connection between global physics and local galactic dynamics via quantum gravity. The salient features of cold dark matter (CDM) and modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) are combined into a unified scheme by introducing the concept of MONDian dark matter which behaves like CDM at cluster and cosmological scales but emulates MOND at the galactic scale.     

Direct detection of WIMP dark matter

The question of the nature of dark matter in the universe is perhaps the greatest problem facing cosmology and particle physics at present. New observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation and distant supernovae show that more that 90% of the mass in the universe is in the form of some unknown matter. Many lines of evidence from cosmology and particle physics suggest that the best candidate for this dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle, or WIMP. Such particles are predicted by supersymmetry, a theory extending the Standard Model of particle physics, and many experiments around the world are now trying to directly detect these WIMPs. This article reviews the reasons for believing WIMPs to be the dark matter, and considers the challenges involved in detecting their rare low-energy interactions with normal matter. Current experimental searches are reviewed with regard to the claimed detection of WIMPs by the DAMA group. These experiments are just beginning to reach the sensitivity needed to detect, or rule out, supersymmetric WIMPs, and higher sensitivity future experiments are also discussed.     

Particle dark matter physics: An update

This write-up gives a rather elementary introduction into particle physics aspects of the cosmological dark matter puzzle. A fairly comprehensive list of possible candidates is given; in each case the production mechanism and possible ways to detect them (if any) are described. I then describe detection of the, in my view, most promising candidates, weakly interacting massive particles or WIMPs, in slightly more detail. The main emphasis will be on recent developments.     

Superweakly interacting massive particles

We investigate a new class of dark matter: superweakly interacting massive particles (super-WIMPs). As with conventional WIMPs, super-WIMPs appear in well motivated particle theories with naturally the correct relic density. In contrast to WIMPs, however, super-WIMPs are impossible to detect in all conventional dark matter searches. We consider the concrete examples of gravitino and graviton cold dark matter in models with supersymmetry and universal extra dimensions, respectively, and show that super-WIMP dark matter satisfies stringent constraints from big bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background.     

WIMP event rates in directional experiments: The diurnal variation signature

The recent WMAP data have confirmed that exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) dominate in the flat Universe. Modern particle theories provide viable cold dark matter candidates with masses in the GeV-TeV region. All such candidates will be called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). The nature of dark matter can only be unraveled by its direct detection in the laboratory. In this work we present some theoretical elements relevant to the direct dark matter detection experiments, paying particular attention to directional experiments, i.e. experiments in which not only the energy but the direction of the recoiling nucleus is observed. Since the direction of observation is fixed with respect to the Earth, while the Earth is rotating around its axis, in a directional experiment the angle between the direction of observation and the Sun’s direction of motion will change during the day. So, since the event rates sensitively depend on this angle, the observed signal in such experiments will exhibit very interesting and characteristic periodic diurnal variation.     

Superweakly interacting massive particle solutions to small scale structure problems

Collisionless, cold dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is well motivated in particle physics, naturally yields the observed relic density, and successfully explains structure formation on large scales. On small scales, however, it predicts too much power, leading to cuspy halos, dense cores, and large numbers of subhalos, in apparent conflict with observations. We consider super-WIMP dark matter, produced with large velocity in late decays at times 10(5) - 10(8) s. As analyzed by Kaplinghat in a more general setting, we find that super-WIMPs have sufficiently large free-streaming lengths and low phase space densities to help resolve small scale structure problems while preserving all of the above-mentioned WIMP virtues.     

暗物质理论研究进展

评述了天体物理中暗物质的发现以及标准模型所面临的问题,综述了解决这些问题及标准模型之外可能出现的新物理与暗物质的联系。介绍了暗物质粒子选择条件和可能的暗物质粒子的候选者;对圆柱形暗物质表面密度与星系和星系团暗物质晕的晕核半径的关系进行了讨论,与其他模型进行了比较,得出暗物质晕的特征半径r_*的暗物质表面密度分布不是一个普适量;并叙述了近几年暗物质研究中提出的新理论模型-Hidden dark matter,最后叙述了中国暗物质实验探测研究的进展,2016年底DAMPE的第一批数据有可能给出;中国锦屏地下实验室（CJPL）的CDEX和PandaX合作组的第一期实验没有发现暗物质粒子存在的信号,期待他们下期的实验。A review of the evidence of the dark matter found in universe and the problems faced by the standard model. To address these issues as well as the possible relationship between the new physics beyond the standard model and dark matter, and given the selection condition of dark matter and possible candidates of the weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The correlation between the column surface density and the halo core radius of the dark matter halos of galaxies and cluster of galaxies is discussed, and the other models are compared. We find that the surface density within the halo characteristic radius r* is not an universal quantity; The new model (hidden dark matter)proposed in the study of dark matter is described. At last, the research progress of dark matter experiment in China is commented. At the end of 2016, the first batch of DAMPE data may be given;No significant excess events of WIMPS were found in the first stage of both the CDEX and PandaX experiments located in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory(CJPL). Look forward to their the next stage of these experiments in CJPL.     

Theoretical direct WIMP detection rates for inelastic scattering to excited states

The recent WMAP and Planck data have confirmed that exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) dominate in the flat Universe. Many extensions of the standard model provide dark matter candidates, in particular Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). Thus the direct dark matter detection is central to particle physics and cosmology. Most of the research on this issue has hitherto focused on the detection of the recoiling nucleus. In this paper we study transitions to the excited states, possible in some nuclei, which have sufficiently low lying excited states. Good examples are the first excited states of ¹²⁷I and ¹²⁹Xe. We find appreciable branching ratios for the inelastic scattering mediated by the spin cross sections. So, in principle, the extra signature of the gamma ray following the de-excitation of these states can, in principle, be exploited experimentally.     

Correlated perturbations from inflation and the cosmic microwave background

We compare the latest cosmic microwave background data with theoretical predictions including correlated adiabatic and cold dark matter (CDM) isocurvature perturbations with a simple power-law dependence. We find that there is a degeneracy between the amplitude of correlated isocurvature perturbations and the spectral tilt. A negative (red) tilt is found to be compatible with a larger isocurvature contribution. Estimates of the baryon and CDM densities are found to be almost independent of the isocurvature amplitude. The main result is that current microwave background data do not exclude a dominant contribution from CDM isocurvature fluctuations on large scales.     

Lower limit on dark matter production at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We evaluate the prospects for finding evidence of dark matter production at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We consider weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and superWIMPs and characterize their properties through model-independent parametrizations. The observed relic density then implies lower bounds on dark matter production rates as functions of a few parameters. For WIMPs, the resulting signal is indistinguishable from background. For superWIMPs, however, this analysis implies significant production of metastable charged particles. For natural parameters, these rates may far exceed Drell-Yan cross sections and yield spectacular signals.     

Identification of weakly interacting massive particles through a combined measurement of axial and scalar couplings

We study the prospects for detecting weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in a number of phenomenological scenarios, with a detector composed of a target simultaneously sensitive to both spin-dependent and spin-independent couplings, as is the case of COUPP (Chicagoland Observatory for Underground Particle Physics). First, we show that sensitivity to both couplings optimizes chances of initial WIMP detection. Second, we demonstrate that, in case of detection, a comparison of the signal on two complementary targets, such as in COUPP CF3I and C4F10 bubble chambers, allows a significantly more precise determination of the dark matter axial and scalar couplings. This strategy would provide crucial information on the nature of the WIMPs and possibly allow discrimination between neutralino and Kaluza-Klein dark matter.