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A Mini Review of some Dark Matter/BSM Physics and a Bit More

Shmuel Nussinov

TL;DR

This mini review surveys the landscape of dark matter and related Beyond Standard Model physics, grounding discussion in cosmology and highlighting complementary approaches across theory, astrophysics, and experiments. It emphasizes SIDM and the GK unitarity bound, then elaborates on ways to relax or evade these limits, including confining gauge theories and resonance effects. The article also canvasses Primordial Black Holes, axions/ALPs, neutrino-related DM, various exotic DM constructs (nuggets, quirk-based models), and the prospects for direct, indirect, and accelerator-based searches, while weaving in speculative SETI-inspired ideas and philosophical themes like the multiverse. Collectively, it underscores the broad experimental and observational toolkit required to test DM/BSM scenarios, and the ongoing shifts in emphasis as data accumulate. The work highlights how newer data have often toned down earlier anomalies and how multi-messenger, directional, and temporal strategies hold promise for future discoveries.

Abstract

There is a vast literature on Dark Matter (DM) with many reviews of specific topics only a small fraction of which will be mentioned. I start with a very brief review of cosmology which underlies much of DM research and some relevant General Relativity (GR). I next discuss Self Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) models and upper bounds on the mass M(X) of point-like, symmetric DM. This is followed up by some general aspects of DM detection and directional and temporal variations. I discuss DM models tied with BSM physics scenarios including Primordial Black Holes, new physics in the neutrino sector, ultra-light DM and axions.

A Mini Review of some Dark Matter/BSM Physics and a Bit More

TL;DR

This mini review surveys the landscape of dark matter and related Beyond Standard Model physics, grounding discussion in cosmology and highlighting complementary approaches across theory, astrophysics, and experiments. It emphasizes SIDM and the GK unitarity bound, then elaborates on ways to relax or evade these limits, including confining gauge theories and resonance effects. The article also canvasses Primordial Black Holes, axions/ALPs, neutrino-related DM, various exotic DM constructs (nuggets, quirk-based models), and the prospects for direct, indirect, and accelerator-based searches, while weaving in speculative SETI-inspired ideas and philosophical themes like the multiverse. Collectively, it underscores the broad experimental and observational toolkit required to test DM/BSM scenarios, and the ongoing shifts in emphasis as data accumulate. The work highlights how newer data have often toned down earlier anomalies and how multi-messenger, directional, and temporal strategies hold promise for future discoveries.

Abstract

There is a vast literature on Dark Matter (DM) with many reviews of specific topics only a small fraction of which will be mentioned. I start with a very brief review of cosmology which underlies much of DM research and some relevant General Relativity (GR). I next discuss Self Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) models and upper bounds on the mass M(X) of point-like, symmetric DM. This is followed up by some general aspects of DM detection and directional and temporal variations. I discuss DM models tied with BSM physics scenarios including Primordial Black Holes, new physics in the neutrino sector, ultra-light DM and axions.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 35 sections, 199 equations, 25 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction: our motivation & philosophy and what we select to present
  2. An introduction to cosmology
  3. Self-interacting DM (SIDM)
  4. The “Wimp Miracle” and the Greist Kamionkowski (GK) Unitarity Bound
  5. Relaxing the GK bound
  6. Evading the unitarity bound in confining gauge theories and the effect of resonances on $\bar{X}X$ annihilations
  7. DM Scenarios in confining theories
  8. Resonance effects in general
  9. In which we recall baryon asymmetry generation and describe models which attempt to explain why * $r= \Omega(DM) / \Omega(baryons) \sim 5$
  10. Can DM made of quark nuggets or small quark composites explain r?
  11. The Fermionic Hierarchy and approaches to its resolution
  12. A speculative connection between the three families and a particular SIDM
  13. Some basics of WIMP detection
  14. A south-pole neutrino detector which helped exclude “Classical” LSP WIMPs and the “Paradigm shift” to lighter DM
  15. Directional, Temporal variations - A possible Key to Dark Matter Discovery
  16. ...and 20 more sections

Figures (25)

  • Figure 1: Yang tableaux made of n squares arranged in adjacent s rows of non- increasing lengths are partitions of n expressed as a sum of lengths of the rows, or alternatively as the sum of the lengths of the Columns.
  • Figure 2: The potential $V(\phi)$ of the inflaton field $\phi$ exhibiting the almost flat "slow roll" section and the exit oscillatory decay section further down
  • Figure 3: A picture of the power spectrum of the measured angular oscillations of the CMB as a function of l the angular momentum.
  • Figure 4: The kinetic mixing of a Dark and ordinary photon induced by a loop where particles carrying both dark (black line) and ordinary (red line) charges $e’$ and $e$ respectively, circulate.
  • Figure 5: a-b Annihilation diagrams for X = LSP WIMP Dark Matter with ordinary weak interactions generated by t channel and s channel exchanges respectively.
  • ...and 20 more figures