TASI 2014 Lectures: The Hunt for Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper provides an overview of current knowledge about dark matter, discussing experimental and observational efforts to identify its nature, and clarifies the complexities and assumptions involved in dark matter research.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive introduction to dark matter, highlighting the challenges and current strategies in detecting and understanding this elusive component of the universe.

Findings

Summarizes current experimental efforts to detect dark matter

Discusses observational constraints on dark matter properties

Clarifies common assumptions in dark matter research

Abstract

These lectures, given at the 2014 Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI), are an introduction to what we know at present about dark matter and the major current experimental and observational efforts to identify what it consists of. They attempt to present the complexities of the subject, making clear common simplifying assumptions, to better understand the reach of dark matter searches.