Self-interacting dark matter

Abstract

The particle physics nature of dark matter (DM) can leave an imprint on the structure of Universe. If DM has a sizable cross section for self-interactions (much larger than the typical weak scale cross section), this can affect the density profiles of DM halos. Moreover, there exist long-standing discrepancies on small scales between astrophysical observations and predictions from N-body simulations of collisionless DM, which suggests that DM may be self-interacting. Here, we review these discrepancies, we discuss the particle physics implications of self-interacting DM, and we show that DM self-interactions have interesting implications for direct and indirect detection searches.