#11 Where does Dark Matter come from?

Cosmological observations show that the Universe is composed of three types of substances: normal matter, dark matter and dark energy. Normal matter consists of the atoms that make up stars, planets, and every other visible object in the Universe. It accounts for only 5% of the total matter-energy content of the Universe. The remaining 95% consists of dark energy (70%) and dark matter (25%). Even though we do not know what dark matter is, a strong possibility is that it consists of a new particle yet do be discovered. One of the most popular dark matter candidates are the so-called WIMPs (Weekly Interacting Massive Particles), particles in a specific mass region which interact weakly with visible matter. There are several ways to arrive at the amount of dark matter we observe today. Two of the most popular mechanisms are the "freeze-out" and the "freeze-in" mechanisms, which are set apart by how weak the values of the gate coupling between dark matter and visible matter have to be. Since the calculations to arrive at the total amount of dark matter observed today can be complex, several codes have been developed to compute this quantity in the most accurate and precise way possible. This projects aims to use one or even two of those codes to compare the main differences between freeze-in and freeze-out by considering the simplest of models that admit the existence of dark matter, such as the extension of the Standard Model of particle physics by a singlet field.

Requirements: preferably third-year or Master’s students with some programming experience (mainly in C++).