Astrophysical probes for Dark Matter searches

Fabio Iocco

IFT, Madrid

Current LCDM cosmological paradigm describes most of the Universe's matter content as made of an unknown, non-electromagnetically interacting, non-baryonic (*dark*) component. The nature of the Dark Matter particle is studied through a host of diverse technique, including direct production at LHC, underground recoil experiments (direct detection), and indirect probes, typically of astrophysical nature.

After a brief introduction, in this talk I will describe two astrophysical observables which can be used to obtain information on different properties of the Dark Matter (DM):

i) Combining microlensing observations of the galactic bulge with rotation curves of the Milky Way, it is possible to constrain the local DM density and more mildly the DM profile of our galaxy's halo, complementing the results obtained with other techniques.

ii) Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations can bring information about the self-annihilation properties of DM particles, complementing indirect searches typically pursued through gamma ray or charged particles in local targets.