Abstract
After introducing the observed relic density of photons in Sect. 1.3 and the observed relic density of neutrinos in Sect. 2.1 we will now compute the relic density of a hypothetical massive, weakly interacting dark matter agent. As for the photons and neutrinos we assume dark matter to be created thermally, and the observed relic density to be determined by the freeze-out combined with the following expansion of the Universe. We will focus on masses of at least a few GeV, which guarantees that dark matter will be non-relativistic when it decouples from thermal equilibrium. At this point we do not have specific particles in mind, but in Chap. 4 we will illustrate this scenario with a set of particle physics models.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bellazzini, B., Cliche, M., Tanedo, P.: Effective theory of self-interacting dark matter. Phys. Rev. D 88(8), 083506 (2013). arXiv:1307.1129 [hep-ph]
Lisanti, M.: Lectures on Dark Matter Physics (2016). arXiv:1603.03797 [hep-ph]
Bernal, N., Heikinheimo, M., Tenkanen, T., Tuominen, K., Vaskonen, V.: The dawn of FIMP dark matter: a review of models and constraints. Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 32(27), 1730023 (2017). arXiv:1706.07442 [hep-ph]
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bauer, M., Plehn, T. (2019). Thermal Relic Density. In: Yet Another Introduction to Dark Matter. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 959. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16234-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16234-4_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16233-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16234-4
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)