Dark Matter Particle Astrophysics: How Dark Matter Can Affect Subhalos, Neutrinos, and Neutron Stars

Abstract

Predicted almost a century ago, dark matter explains many astrophysical observations including the motion of matter on galaxy and galaxy cluster scales, the clustering of galaxies, and the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. The standard cosmological model further predicts that 26% of the universe consists of dark matter, however we have yet to understand how, if at all, dark matter interacts with the rest of the known particles outside of gravity. Though hints of non-gravitational dark matter interactions exist, most experimental and observational searches only place upper limits on the strength of these interactions. In this thesis, we summarize the current knowledge of dark matter and then focus on three different astrophysical probes of non-gravitational dark matter interactions: 1) dark matter annihilation in subhalos, 2) dark matter-neutrino interactions, and 3) dark matter collection in neutron stars.