Tell me more ×
Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of physics. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite

From what I've read, the only remaining candidates appear to be either sterile neutrinos or MOND (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics -- it does seem to keep changing.)

Did I miss anything else plausible?

share|improve this question
Are you asking about what would happen if SUSY is shifted to such a high energy scale that it is useless for dark matter or do you want to know about what dark matter could be if there is no SUSY at all at any energy scale? – Dilaton Nov 28 '12 at 12:49
The dark matter model has the serious problem that cannot explain lots of data. Therefore searching some candidate looks sterile... – juanrga Nov 28 '12 at 18:52
@Dilaton: no SUSY at all at any energy scale – Walt Donovan Nov 28 '12 at 21:39
There are plenty of logical alternatives that are independent of supersymmetry. Almost any weakly interacting particle that isn't too heavy to freeze out in the early universe will do (eg those arising from little higgs models for instance). Many of these haven't quite been ruled out yet at the LHC. Axions as one of the answers below is another popular and consistent alternative, more generally condensates of many forms. And there are other ideas as well, eg primordial black holes or modifying gravity etc. – Columbia Nov 29 '12 at 3:31

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Sterile neutrinos are candidates with or without SUSY. Though it is hard to get both the temperature and the total mass right without introducing several flavors.

share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

A plausible candidate is axions. These are (hypothetical) very light, very weakly-interacting particles, and notoriously difficult to actually detect. They are however well-motivated; they were first proposed as a solution to the 'strong CP' problem, and also arise automatically in string theory compactifications.

share|improve this answer
But for this scenario to be possible, I have heard that SUSY must not be completely incorrect but rather shifted to a higher (at the moment not observable and for dark matter useless) energy scale ...? – Dilaton Nov 28 '12 at 12:49
@Dilaton: There must be a slight misunderstanding somewhere; axions (and axion dark matter) are logically independent of supersymmetry. – Rhys Nov 28 '12 at 14:27
Hm, I just thought that if the axions come from ST for example, SUSY should not be completely absent at all scales? – Dilaton Nov 28 '12 at 14:32
2  
There is actually at least one axion search search on at Fermilab. A "shine a laser through a wall" rig using a couple of decommissioned tevatron magnets as the conversion regions. Cool stuff. – dmckee♦ Nov 28 '12 at 16:02
2  
@Dilaton: Read up on Peccei-Quinn symmetry. – user1504 Nov 28 '12 at 16:20
show 2 more comments

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.