The Dark Matter Enigma

摘要

The standard model of particle physics has been extraordinary successful. This model describes all known particles and nuclei in terms of a few fundamental quarks and leptons, and accounts for their interactions via strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions. The model has undergone rigorous testing and measured values are seen to agree with theory to phenomenal precision. For example, the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron, a precision test of the electromagnetic part of the theory agrees with the theoretical prediction to a phenomenal 12 decimal place accuracy~([1]). Despite this success the model appears to be incomplete. During the past few decades it has become abundantly clear that we can only account for 20% of the total matter content of the Universe in terms of standard model particles. The nature of the other 80%, dubbed "dark matter" as it doesn't produce observable light like other astronomical objects, is completely unknown today. The detection and characterization of dark matter is one of the highest priority research topics in physics today.