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I. INTRODUCTION

One of the most astounding revelations of the twentieth century in terms of our understanding of the Universe is that ordinary baryonic matter, that is, matter made up of protons and neutrons, is not the dominant form of material in the Universe. Rather, some strange new form of matter, dubbed "dark matter," fills our Universe, and it is roughly six times more abundant than ordinary matter. Although we have yet to detect this strange material in the laboratory, there is a great deal of evidence which points to the necessity of its existence.

A complete understanding of dark matter requires utilizing several branches of physics and astronomy. The creation of dark matter during the hot expansion of the universe is understood through statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. Particle physics is necessary to propose candidates for dark matter and explore its possible interactions with ordinary matter. General relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology dictate how dark matter acts on large scales and how the universe may be viewed as a laboratory to study dark matter. Many other areas of physics come into play as well, making the study of dark matter a diverse and interdisciplinary field. Furthermore, the profusion of ground and satellite-based measurements in recent years have rapidly advanced the field making it dynamic and timely; we are truly entering the era of "precision cosmology".

This paper aims to give a general overview of the subject of dark matter suitable for non-experts; we hope to treat this fascinating and important topic in a way such that the non-specialist will gain a strong foundation and introduction to dark matter. It is at times difficult to find understandable and appropriate literature for individuals with no background on the subject. Existing reviews are either popular-level pieces which are too general or specialized pieces for experts in the field, motivating us to create an accessible overview. We particularly hope that this review will be helping to graduate students beginning their study of dark matter and to other physicists and astronomers who would like to learn more about this important topic.

To give such an introduction to dark matter, we will first briefly explain the first hints that dark matter exists, elaborate on the strong evidence physicists and astronomers have accumulated in the past years, discuss the neutralino and other possible candidates, and describe various detection methods used to probe the dark matter's mysterious properties. Although we will at times focus on supersymmetric theories of dark matter, other possibilities will be introduced and discussed.

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