The quest for the nature of dark matter has reached a historical point in time, with several different and complementary experiments on the verge of conclusively exploring large portions of the parameter space of the most theoretically compelling particle dark matter models. This focus issue on dark matter and particle physics brings together a broad selection of invited articles from the leading experimental and theoretical groups in the field. The leitmotif of the collection is the need for a multi-faceted search strategy that includes complementary experimental and theoretical techniques with the common goal of a sound understanding of the fundamental particle physical nature of dark matter. These include theoretical modelling, high-energy colliders and direct and indirect searches. We are confident that the works collected here present the state of the art of this rapidly changing field and will be of interest to both experts in the topic of dark matter as well as to those new to this exciting field.

Focus on Dark Matter and Particle Physics Contents

DARK MATTER AND ASTROPHYSICS

Scintillator-based detectors for dark matter searches I
S K Kim, H J Kim and Y D Kim

Cosmology: small-scale issues
Joel R Primack

Big Bang nucleosynthesis and particle dark matter
Karsten Jedamzik and Maxim Pospelov

Particle models and the small-scale structure of dark matter
Torsten Bringmann

DARK MATTER AND COLLIDERS

Dark matter in the MSSM
R C Cotta, J S Gainer, J L Hewett and T G Rizzo

The role of an e+e- linear collider in the study of cosmic dark matter
M Battaglia

Collider, direct and indirect detection of supersymmetric dark matter
Howard Baer, Eun-Kyung Park and Xerxes Tata

INDIRECT PARTICLE DARK MATTER SEARCHES:EXPERIMENTS

PAMELA and indirect dark matter searches
M Boezio et al

An indirect search for dark matter using antideuterons: the GAPS experiment
C J Hailey

Perspectives for indirect dark matter search with AMS-2 using cosmic-ray electrons and positrons
B Beischer, P von Doetinchem, H Gast, T Kirn and S Schael

Axion searches with helioscopes and astrophysical signatures for axion(-like) particles
K Zioutas, M Tsagri, Y Semertzidis, T Papaevangelou, T Dafni and V Anastassopoulos

The indirect search for dark matter with IceCube
Francis Halzen and Dan Hooper

DIRECT DARK MATTER SEARCHES:EXPERIMENTS

Gaseous dark matter detectors
G Sciolla and C J Martoff

Search for dark matter with CRESST
Rafael F Lang and Wolfgang Seidel

DIRECT AND INDIRECT PARTICLE DARK MATTER SEARCHES:THEORY

Dark matter annihilation around intermediate mass black holes: an update
Gianfranco Bertone, Mattia Fornasa, Marco Taoso and Andrew R Zentner

Update on the direct detection of dark matter in MSSM models with non-universal Higgs masses
John Ellis, Keith A Olive and Pearl Sandick

Dark stars: a new study of the first stars in the Universe
Katherine Freese, Peter Bodenheimer, Paolo Gondolo and Douglas Spolyar

Determining the mass of dark matter particles with direct detection experiments
Chung-Lin Shan

The detection of subsolar mass dark matter halos
Savvas M Koushiappas

Neutrino coherent scattering rates at direct dark matter detectors
Louis E Strigari

Gamma rays from dark matter annihilation in the central region of the Galaxy
Pasquale Dario Serpico and Dan Hooper

DARK MATTER MODELS

The dark matter interpretation of the 511 keV line
Céline Boehm

Axions as dark matter particles
Leanne D Duffy and Karl van Bibber

Sterile neutrinos
Alexander Kusenko

Dark matter candidates
Lars Bergström

Minimal dark matter: model and results
Marco Cirelli and Alessandro Strumia

Shedding light on the dark sector with direct WIMP production
Partha Konar, Kyoungchul Kong, Konstantin T Matchev and Maxim Perelstein

Axinos as dark matter particles
Laura Covi and Jihn E Kim