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Macro Dark Matter
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 450 (4): 3418--3430 (03.07.2015)
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv774
Аннотация
Dark matter is a vital component of the current best model of our universe,
\$Łambda\$CDM. There are leading candidates for what the dark matter could be
(e.g. weakly-interacting massive particles, or axions), but no compelling
observational or experimental evidence exists to support these particular
candidates, nor any beyond-the-Standard-Model physics that might produce such
candidates. This suggests that other dark matter candidates, including ones
that might arise in the Standard Model, should receive increased attention.
Here we consider a general class of dark matter candidates with characteristic
masses and interaction cross-sections characterized in units of grams and
cm\$^2\$, respectively -- we therefore dub these macroscopic objects as Macros.
Such dark matter candidates could potentially be assembled out of Standard
Model particles (quarks and leptons) in the early universe. A combination of
Earth-based, astrophysical, and cosmological observations constrain a portion
of the Macro parameter space. A large region of parameter space remains, most
notably for nuclear-dense objects with masses in the range \$55 - 10^17\$ g and
\$2\times10^20 - 4\times10^24\$ g, although the lower mass window is closed
for Macros that destabilize ordinary matter.
