Introduction

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 570.

Not long ago, particle physicists could often be heard bemoaning the lack of unambiguous, quantitative evidence for physics beyond their standard model. Those days are gone. Although the standard model of particle physics remains one of the great triumphs of modern science, it now appears that it fails at even the most basic level—providing a reasonably complete catalog of the building blocks of our universe.

Recent cosmological measurements have pinned down the amount of baryon, matter, and dark energy in the universe [1] and [2]. In units of the critical density, these energy densities are

implying a non-baryonic dark matter component with

(4)

where h 0.71 is the normalized Hubble expansion rate. Both the central values and uncertainties were nearly unthinkable even just a few years ago. These measurements are clear and surprisingly precise evidence that the known particles make up only a small fraction of the total energy density of the universe. Cosmology now provides overwhelming evidence for new particle physics.

At the same time, the microscopic properties of dark matter and dark energy are remarkably unconstrained by cosmological and astrophysical observations. Theoretical insights from particle physics are therefore required, both to suggest candidates for dark matter and dark energy and to identify experiments and observations that may confirm or exclude these speculations.

Weak-scale supersymmetry is at present the most well-motivated framework for new particle physics. Its particle physics motivations are numerous and are reviewed in Section 2. More than that, it naturally provides dark matter candidates with approximately the right relic density. This fact provides a strong, fundamental, and completely independent motivation for supersymmetric theories. For these reasons, the implications of supersymmetry for cosmology, and vice versa, merit serious consideration.

Many topics lie at the interface of particle physics and cosmology, and supersymmetry has something to say about nearly every one of them. Regrettably, spacetime constraints preclude detailed discussion of many of these topics. Although the discussion below will touch on a variety of subjects, it will focus on dark matter, where the connections between supersymmetry and cosmology are concrete and rich, the above-mentioned quantitative evidence is especially tantalizing, and the role of experiments is clear and promising.

Weak-scale supersymmetry is briefly reviewed in Section 2 with a focus on aspects most relevant to astrophysics and cosmology. In Sections 3 and 4 the possible roles of neutralinos and gravitinos in the early universe are described. As will be seen, their cosmological and astrophysical implications are very different; together they illustrate the wealth of possibilities in supersymmetric cosmology. I conclude in Section 5 with speculations about the future prospects for a microscopic understanding of the dark universe.