Description:

The dark matter phenomenon is the realisation that astrophysical and cosmological observations appear to indicate invisible mass sources. There are many candidates that could account for dark matter; among the most prominent proposals are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), feebly interacting massive particles (FIMPs), and Primordial Black Holes (PBH). I will start by briefly outlining each of these proposed resolutions. Subsequently, I will discuss the idea that cosmology may give rise to appreciable populations of both particle dark matter (WIMPs/FIMPs) and PBH with the combined mass density providing the observationally inferred value of the dark matter abundance today. In particular, I will highlight that dark matter particles will generically form halos around the PBH leading to enhanced constraints on this scenario from indirect detection searches, and I will discuss how these observational limits vary for different types of particle dark matter.

James Unwin, Associate Professor, University of Illinois Chicago

Host: Adrian Thompson