Dark Matter and Dark Energy: Particle Physics, Cosmology, and Experimental Searches

Dear Colleagues, 

Thanks to a variety of astrophysical and cosmological observations, it has been established that the energy budget of the Universe is dominated by two dark components, whose origin and composition remain unknown: dark matter (DM) and dark energy (DE). One of the major tasks of cosmology, particle physics, and astrophysics in the coming years will be to unravel the nature of DM and DE both through joint and complementary efforts. 

On the particle physics side, DM candidates are ubiquitous in extensions of the standard model of particle physics. However, DM has so far eluded discovery despite significant detection efforts, making it worth thinking of both alternative DM candidates, as well as novel detection methods. Moreover, the predictions of the collisionless cold DM paradigm appear to be in tension with galactic and sub-galactic structure observations (the so-called “small scale crisis”), which might be pointing towards a richer particle DM structure. From the particle physics point of view, the nature of DE is even more uncertain and no leading paradigm exists. 

On the cosmological side, the ΛCDM standard cosmological model has been able to successfully explain a wide variety of observations ranging from cosmic microwave background radiation to the large-scale structure of the Universe. Yet, we know that ΛCDM cannot be the end of the story. Intriguingly, hints of cracks in the ΛCDM model have been appearing in relation to tensions between parameters determined from high- and low-redshift observations, such as the well-known Hubble constant tension. These tensions could be pointing towards a richer dark sector, especially on the DE side (for instance in the form of an early DE component, DM-DE interactions, or phase transitions in the DE). 

Our goal in this Special Issue is to foster discussions to further understand the dark sector, including novel theoretical models, new detection ideas, and reviews on what the dark sector components might or might not be. We believe that a joint and complementary effort between particle physics, cosmology, and astrophysics, is vital to shedding light on the dark side of the Universe, and we, thus, especially encourage works at the interface of model building, phenomenology, and observations. Topics of interest to this Special Issue include (but are most certainly not limited to) the keywords summarized below. We welcome both original submissions and review papers, and look forward to your contributions!

Dr. Sunny Vagnozzi
Dr. Eleonora Di Valentino
Prof. Alessandro Melchiorri
Prof. Olga Mena
Dr. Luca Visinelli
Guest Editors

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