Dark Matter in Astrophysics/Cosmology

TL;DR

This paper provides an overview of dark matter in astrophysics and cosmology, discussing observational evidence, distribution, and insights into its nature, including warm and self-interacting dark matter models.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive introduction to dark matter, integrating cosmological evolution, observational data, simulations, and potential particle properties.

Findings

Dark matter is evidenced by galaxy and cluster observations.

Distribution studies help constrain dark matter models.

Insights into warm and self-interacting dark matter are discussed.

Abstract

These lecture notes aim to provide an introduction to dark matter from the perspective of astrophysics/cosmology. We start with a rapid overview of cosmology, including the evolution of the Universe, its thermal history and structure formation. Then we look at the observational evidence for dark matter, from observations of galaxies, galaxy clusters, the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background radiation and large scale structure. To detect dark matter we need to know how it's distributed, in particular in the Milky Way, so next we overview relevant results from numerical simulations and observations. Finally, we conclude by looking at what astrophysical and cosmological observations can tell us about the nature of dark matter, focusing on two particular cases: warm and self-interacting dark matter.