Starting on October 12th, lectures will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays starting at 9:15h. 

Literature/Notes:

Lecture Notes by Prof. Roman Scoccimarro (New York University) - Notes number 10 to 15, here
Book: Gianfranco Bertone, "Particle Dark Matter"

Grading:

journal club participation 30%
written exam with oral discussion 70% (list of potential questions will be given before hand)

Topics

Intro 

1. Evidence for DM and Intro to models and search strategies, slides

Material: Book “B. Gianfranco: Particle Dark Matter” chapter 1

The growth of cosmic structures: 

1.     Random (Gaussian) fields
2.     Fluctuations from inflation: Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum
3.     Linear Evolution of perturbations: growth factor, Jeans scale, free-streaming length
4.     Transfer function and the linear power spectrum

Material: Cosmology lectures by Roman Scoccimarro — lectures 10-15
Method: Black board

Going beyond gravity — how can we ‘search’ for the particle physics nature of dark matter? 

1.     Dark matter production mechanisms: chapter 7
2.     N-body simulations of dark matter haloes and issues with small scale clustering - chapters 2&3
3.     Indirect detection and astrophysical constraints: chapter 24-29
1. Gamma-rays
2. Neutrinos
3. Charged cosmic rays
4.     ‘Direct’ searches: chapter 17
5.     ‘Collider’ searches: chapter 13

Material: Book “B. Gianfranco: Particle Dark Matter”
Method: journal club

Exam questions

1. Evidence for the existence of dark matter and its main properties
2. Define Random fields, Fourier space, Gaussian perturbations...  (RS lecture 10)
3. Main features of inflation and prediction of the 'scale invariant' the power spectrum (RS lecture 11)
4. Newtonian evolution of fluctuations:  list the set of equations and show how linear solutions (growing and decaying mode) are obtained. (RS 13)
5. The linear power spectrum and transfer function, Jeans length and free streaming length (RS 15)
6. Define WIMPs. Calculation for thermal relic density.
7. WIMP properties and particle physics candidates (motivation for SUSY and SUSY DM candidates)
8. Indirect search for DM. Expression for gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes. Dark matter targets and experiments.
9. Intro to direct detection of DM. Main detection techniques and experiments.
10. Main signature of DM production in colliders.