On the detection of dark matter: New prospects for a multi-component dark sector and global fits of Pseudo-Nambu Goldstone dark matter

Abstract

The so called ‘dark matter’ is one of the most well researched enigmas in modern physics. There currently exist a multitude of experimental observations that would infer the existence of some gravitationally heavy, weakly interacting matter that has baffled physicists since the early 1900’s. In this thesis, I will present four publications that constituted the main body of work of my PhD work. These papers explored new avenues in WIMP research: the introduction of more than one dark matter species, as well as a new type of DM model that can evade current direct detection constraints.