Lecture 1

Astroparticle Physics: Lecture 1
Francesca Chadha-Day
Durham University
francesca.chadha-day@durham.ac.uk
Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 1 / 26

Course Outline
1 Dark Matter motivation, properties and models

2 Cosmology introduction
3 Time evolution of the number density
4 Freeze out
5 Freeze in
6 Non-thermal Dark Matter production
7 Dark Matter direct detection
8 Dark Matter indirect detection
9 Dark Matter structure

Logistics
8 × ∼ 50 minute lectures
2 × 1 hour tutorials
Handout by David Cerdeño
Recommended Reading: Modern Cosmology by Scott Dodelson;

David Tong’s Lectures on Cosmology

Lecture overview
1 Evidence for Dark Matter
2 Modified Gravity
3 Dark Matter properties
4 Dark Matter models
See section 1 of course handout

Evidence for Dark Matter
DM in Galaxies
Reproduced from McGaugh, Lelli and Schombert, 2016

Blue = total baryons
dotted green = gas
dashed red = stellar disc
purple dashed/dotted = bulge

DM in Galaxy Clusters
X-ray (Purple): NASA/CXC/Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland/D.Harvey & NASA/CXC/Durham

Univ/R.Massey; Optical & Lensing Map (Blue): NASA, ESA, D. Harvey (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne,
Switzerland) and R. Massey (Durham University, UK)
DM in Galaxy Clusters

DM in Large Scale Structure
Credit: Andrey Kravtsov (the University of Chicago) and Anatoly Klypin (New Mexico State University)

The Cosmic Microwave Background
Photons from the time of recombination of electrons and

protons, 380000 years after the Big Bang.
The CMB has a black body spectrum, so we can assign each

point on the sky a temperature.
Not all points on the sky have exactly the same temperature -
there are fluctuations.


DM in the Cosmic Microwave Background
Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Why are there peaks in the CMB power spectrum?
The gravity of clumps of matter (Dark and baryonic)

(originating from inflationary fluctuations) leads to potential
wells in the universe
The baryon-photon plasma that will emit the CMB oscillates in

this landscape - sound waves propagate through the universe in
the baryon-photon plasma.

Each wavelength mode oscillates approximately independently,

and we see a snapshot of the modes, frozen at recombination.
We see the ones that happen to be frozen at an extrema.
There are no oscillations at wavelengths larger than horizon.

The first peak, gives us angular size of horizon at recombination.
At high scales, the oscillations are washed out by photon

diffusion, reducing the size of the peaks.

Dark Matter in the CMB
The gravity of the baryon-photon plasma itself also effects the

size of the potential wells.
If the baryon density is much smaller than the Dark Matter

density, this won’t affect the gravitational potential much - get
symmetric oscillations.
The baryon density adds amplitude to compressions but not to

the decompressions. This means the 1st and 3rd peaks are higher
than the 2nd and 4th peaks. The ratio of these peaks tells us
about the relative size of the Dark Matter and baryon densities.

Dark Matter
All evidence points to ∼ 27% of the Universe’s energy being

composed of Dark Matter.
√
Z
1
S= (R − 2Λ) + LSM + LDM −g d 4 x
2κ

Modified Gravity
The Tully-Fisher Relation
4
Mvis ∝ vasym
Reproduced from Torres-Flores et al, 2011

Modified Gravity
Modified Newtonian Dynamics
Modify Newton’s Law of Gravitation:

|a|
µ̃ a = −OΦN ,
a0
where a0 ∼ 10−8 cm s−2 and µ̃ is a smooth function satisfying:
µ̃(x) ' x for x 1

µ̃(x) → 1 as x → ∞
MOND explains the Tully-Fisher relation dynamically.

Modified Gravity
Covariant Modified Gravity
Matter couples to a ‘physical metric’

ĝ = e2φ g µν − 2u µ u ν sinh(2φ).
u and φ are new fields that couple to the ‘original’ metric g µν .
The action for the new scalar is chosen to satisfy the
Tully-Fisher relation.
Hard to find a modified gravity theory that reproduces data from
colliding clusters and LIGO.

Dark Matter properties
Dark matter properties
Non-baryonic: neutrinos are too relativistic to be Dark Matter

Neutral
Non-relativistic, to correctly predict structure formation
Long-lived
Collisionless

Dark Matter models

Dark Matter models
WIMP Dark Matter
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles
Right-handed (‘sterile’) neutrinos
Lightest supersymmetric particle

Dark Matter models
Axions: The Strong CP Problem
g 2
µν
The CP violating term L ⊃ θ 32π 2G G̃µν is allowed in the QCD
Langrangian
Null measurements of the neutron electric dipole moment
constrain θ < 10−9
Weak interactions transform θ: θ → θ + arg det M.
Need very fine tuned cancellations to explain observations
(but see Ai, Cruz, Garbrecht & Tamarit, Phys.Lett.B 822 (2021)
136616).

Dark Matter models
Axions: The Vafa-Witten Theorem
“In parity-conserving vector-like theories such as QCD,

parity conservation is not spontaneously broken.”
Dynamical parity violating terms have zero vacuum

expectation value.
(Vafa and Witten, 1984)

Dark Matter models
Axions: The Peccei-Quinn solution
Promote θ to a dynamical variable - the QCD axion:

2
L ⊃ (θ + ξa ) g G µν G̃µν
fa 32π 2
The Vafa-Witten theorem guarantees that the total θ term is

zero in the ground state.
A potential is generated for the axion such that the total

coefficient of G µν G̃µν is zero.

Dark Matter models
Axions: The Peccei-Quinn solution
The θ term arises from the U(1)A anomaly of QCD

To make θ dynamical, we introduce an additional global chiral
symmetry U(1)PQ , which is spontaneously broken.
The axion is the Goldstone boson of U(1)PQ .
The QCD chiral anomaly causes non-perturbative explicit
breaking of U(1)PQ , generating a potential for the axion:
ξa
V ∼ −cos(θ + )
fa
The axion retains a discrete shift symmetry.

Dark Matter models
Axion-like particles
ALPs are ultra-light particles that exist in many extensions of

the Standard Model.
They are pseudo-Nambu Goldstone bosons of global U(1)

symmetries.
String theory compactificiations typically give rise to many ALPs

at a range of masses.
ALPs can act as both dark matter and dark energy.

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Astroparticle Physics: Lecture 1

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 1 / 26

1 Dark Matter motivation, properties and models

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 2 / 26

Handout by David Cerdeño

Recommended Reading: Modern Cosmology by Scott Dodelson;

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 3 / 26

1 Evidence for Dark Matter

3 Dark Matter properties

4 Dark Matter models

See section 1 of course handout

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 4 / 26

Reproduced from McGaugh, Lelli and Schombert, 2016

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 5 / 26

X-ray (Purple): NASA/CXC/Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland/D.Harvey & NASA/CXC/Durham

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 7 / 26

DM in Large Scale Structure

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 8 / 26

The Cosmic Microwave Background

Photons from the time of recombination of electrons and

The CMB has a black body spectrum, so we can assign each

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 9 / 26

The Cosmic Microwave Background

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 10 / 26

DM in the Cosmic Microwave Background

Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 11 / 26

The Cosmic Microwave Background

Why are there peaks in the CMB power spectrum?

The gravity of clumps of matter (Dark and baryonic)

The baryon-photon plasma that will emit the CMB oscillates in

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 12 / 26

The Cosmic Microwave Background

Each wavelength mode oscillates approximately independently,

There are no oscillations at wavelengths larger than horizon.

At high scales, the oscillations are washed out by photon

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 13 / 26

Dark Matter in the CMB

The gravity of the baryon-photon plasma itself also effects the

If the baryon density is much smaller than the Dark Matter

The baryon density adds amplitude to compressions but not to

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 14 / 26

All evidence points to ∼ 27% of the Universe’s energy being

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 15 / 26

The Tully-Fisher Relation

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 16 / 26

Modified Newtonian Dynamics

Modify Newton’s Law of Gravitation:

where a0 ∼ 10−8 cm s−2 and µ̃ is a smooth function satisfying:

µ̃(x) ' x for x  1

MOND explains the Tully-Fisher relation dynamically.

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 17 / 26

Covariant Modified Gravity

Matter couples to a ‘physical metric’

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 18 / 26

Dark matter properties

Non-baryonic: neutrinos are too relativistic to be Dark Matter

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 19 / 26

Francesca Chadha-Day (Durham University) Astroparticle 1 20 / 26

WIMP Dark Matter

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles

Right-handed (‘sterile’) neutrinos

Lightest supersymmetric particle

µ̃(x) ' x for x 1