Exploring the Dark Matter

Dear Colleagues,

The nature of dark matter and its cosmological role remain among the most fundamental aspects of the Universe for which we still lack a successful explanation. In this Special Issue, in addition to exploring these questions through cosmological scenarios beyond the standard ΛCDM model, we aim to envision a shift in the paradigm within which the ΛCDM framework itself has been developed. Specifically, rather than relying solely on first principles of physics or on open problems in the standard model of elementary particles, we seek to build a new paradigm by reverse engineering the rich and vast observational evidence related to what is broadly referred to as the dark matter phenomenon—i.e., the observed mass discrepancies and scaling relations in astrophysical systems that are typically attributed to dark matter. The contributions collected in this Special Issue are intended to help advance our understanding of this phenomenon and to explore the theoretical scenario that may underlie it.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate recent advances concerning the properties of both dark and luminous matter in the Universe as a whole, as well as the mass distributions in virialized objects. In particular, we welcome contributions that, from various perspectives and at different levels, address the nature of the dark particle and its cosmological role.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Nature of dark matter and its direct and indirect detection.
• Cosmological simulations of dark matter.
• Cosmological tensions and dark matter nature.
• Galaxy formation and structure from the highest z to the present.
• Interaction and scaling laws between luminous and dark matter in galaxies.
• Supermassive black holes in dark matter halos.

Prof. Dr. Paolo Salucci
Dr. Eleonora Di Valentino
Dr. Veronica Lora
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Universe is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• dark matter
• cosmological simulations of dark matter
• scenarios for the dark matter
• nature of the dark particle
• detection of the dark particle
• galaxy formation and highest z objects
• galaxy kinematics and dynamics
• Hubble tension and dark matter
• super massive black holes