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Article Contents

ABSTRACT

I.INTRODUCTION

II.HISTORY AND EARLY INDICATIONS

III.MODERN UNDERSTANDING AND EVIDENCE

A.Microlensing

B.Cosmological Evidence

C.Most recent evidence

IV.PARTICLE CANDIDATES

A.The Standard Model and the Neutrino

B.Problems of the Standard Model

V.SUPERSYMMETRY

VI.EXOTIC CANDIDATES

VII.PRODUCTION IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE

A.Review of Big Bang Cosmology

B.Thermodynamics in the Early Universe

C.Particle Production and Relic Density: The Boltzmann Equation

VIII.DETECTION SCHEMES

A.Production in Accelerators

B.Direct Detection

C.Indirect Detection

1.Gamma-rays

2.Neutrinos

3.Antimatter

IX.CONCLUSION AND CHALLENGES

X.APPENDIX: MOND THEORIES AS ALTERNATIVES TO DARK MATTER

REFERENCES