Strategies for Determining the Nature of Dark Matter

Abstract

In this review, we discuss the role of the various experimental programs taking part in the effort to identify the particle nature of dark matter. In particular, we focus on electroweak-scale dark matter particles and discuss a wide range of search strategies that are being developed and utilized to detect them. These efforts include direct detection experiments, which attempt to observe the elastic scattering of dark matter particles with nuclei; indirect detection experiments, which search for photons, antimatter, and neutrinos produced as a result of dark matter annihilations; and collider searches for new teraelectronvolt-scale physics. Each of these techniques could potentially provide a unique and complementary set of information related to the mass, interactions, and distribution of dark matter. Ideally, these many different tools will be used together to conclusively identify the particle or particles that constitute the dark matter of the universe.