Mirror dark matter: Cosmology, galaxy structure and direct detection

Abstract

A simple way to accommodate dark matter is to postulate the existence of a hidden sector. That is, a set of new particles and forces interacting with the known particles predominantly via gravity. In general, this leads to a large set of unknown parameters, however, if the hidden sector is an exact copy of the standard model sector, then, an enhanced symmetry arises. This symmetry, which can be interpreted as space-time parity, connects each ordinary particle (e, ν, p, n, γ, ...) with a mirror partner (e′, ν′, p′, n′, γ′, ...). If this symmetry is completely unbroken, then the mirror particles are degenerate with their ordinary particle counterparts, and would interact amongst themselves wit..