2024 TASI Lectures: A Dark Matter Primer

2025/06/05 by T. Yu, Yu, Tien-Tien · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.05234

openalex publication_date 2025/06/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/19 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

These notes are based on a sequence of 4 lectures delivered at the 2024 Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI) and at the Università degli Studi di Padova. They are intended for graduate students at the early stages of their study of dark matter with some prior exposure to cosmology and quantum field theory. The primary aim is to offer an accessible introduction to dark matter and to lay the groundwork for exploring its phenomenology. These lectures are not intended to serve as a comprehensive review. We begin by motivating the study of dark matter through a discussion of the empirical evidence and the constraints it places on dark matter properties. This is followed by an overview of several canonical mechanisms for the production of cosmological dark matter, and a concluding section that surveys current experimental and observational efforts to detect it with a focus on direct detection.

Citations

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Cited by

• Dark winds on the horizon: Prospects for detecting neutrino and hot dark matter wakes in large-scale structure

Related

• TASI 2014 Lectures: The Hunt for Dark Matter
• TASI lectures on dark matter models and direct detection
• TASI Lectures on Dark Matter
• TASI Lectures on Indirect Searches For Dark Matter
• TASI Lectures on Indirect Detection of Dark Matter