Cosmology and Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper reviews the evidence for dark matter and matter-antimatter asymmetry in cosmology, explores candidate particles, and discusses early universe scenarios like inflation and future observational prospects.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of dark matter candidates, matter-antimatter asymmetry theories, and the earliest cosmological epochs, emphasizing future observational strategies.

Findings

Multiple dark matter candidates discussed, including WIMPs, axions, sterile neutrinos, and fuzzy dark matter.

Cosmological data supports inflation as the earliest epoch, with alternative scenarios considered.

Future observations are crucial for understanding the universe's earliest stages.

Abstract

Cosmology and astroparticle physics give strongest possible evidence for the incompleteness of the Standard Model of particle physics. Leaving aside misterious dark energy, which may or may not be just the cosmological constant, two properties of the Universe cannot be explained by the Standard Model: dark matter and matter-antimatter asymmtery. Dark matter particles may well be discovered in foreseeable future; this issue is under intense experimental investigation. Theoretical hypotheses on the nature of the dark matter particles are numerous, so we concentrate on several well motivated candidates, such as WIMPs, axions and sterile neutrinos, and also give examples of less motivated and more elusive candidates such as fuzzy dark matter. This gives an idea of the spectrum of conceivable dark matter candidates, while certainly not exhausting it. We then consider the matter-antimatter asymmetry and discuss whether it may result from physics at 100~GeV -- TeV scale. Finally, we turn to the earliest epoch of the cosmological evolution. Although the latter topic does not appear immediately related to contemporary particle physics, it is of great interest due to its fundamental nature. We emphasize that the cosmological data, notably, on CMB anisotropies, unequivocally show that the well understood hot stage was not the earliest one. The best guess for the earlier stage is inflation, which is consistent with everything known to date; however, there are alternative scenarios. We discuss the ways to study the earliest epoch, with emphasis on future cosmological observations.