The WIMP Paradigm: Theme and Variations

TL;DR

This paper reviews the WIMP paradigm for dark matter, discussing its motivations, basic features, detection methods, and recent variations, highlighting its ongoing significance in particle physics research.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of WIMP dark matter, including the WIMP miracle, detection strategies, and recent developments in the paradigm.

Findings

WIMPs remain a viable dark matter candidate.

The WIMP miracle explains the correct relic abundance.

Recent variations expand the WIMP paradigm's scope.

Abstract

WIMPs, weakly-interacting massive particles, have been leading candidates for particle dark matter for decades, and they remain a viable and highly motivated possibility. In these lectures, I describe the basic motivations for WIMPs, beginning with the WIMP miracle and its under-appreciated cousin, the discrete WIMP miracle. I then give an overview of some of the basic features of WIMPs and how to find them. These lectures conclude with some variations on the WIMP theme that have by now become significant topics in their own right and illustrate the richness of the WIMP paradigm.