next up previous
Next: Introduction

The Net Advance of Physics: GATEWAY REVIEWS, No. 2



The Nature of the Dark Matter

Kim Griest,
Physics Department,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093 USA

kgriest@physics.ucsd.edu


First edition, 1996 July 15.
Copyright © 1996 by Kim Griest.

(Note: This article is best viewed with a regular-sized Netscape 2.02 browser or with Mosaic. Maximizing a smaller browser will increase the piece's legibility.)


ABSTRACT:


We review some recent determinations of the amount of dark

matter on galactic and larger scales, with special attention to the

dark matter in the Milky Way. We then briefly review the

motivation for and basic physics of several dark matter candidates,

including Machos, Wimps, axions, and neutrinos. We then go into

more depth for two candidates, the neutralino from supersymmetry,

and the baryonic Macho candidate. For Machos we give a

description of the discovery of Machos via gravitational

microlensing and the interpretation of the results with respect

to the dark matter problem.


(Lectures presented at the International School of Physics ``Enrico

Fermi" Course ``Dark Matter in the Universe", Varenna, 25 July -

4 August, 1995.)