Astrophysical Searches and Constraints on Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter

Understand

Starting from the evidence that dark matter indeed exists and permeates the entire cosmos, various bounds on its properties can be estimated.

• Beginning with the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure, we summarize bounds on the ultralight bosonic dark matter (UBDM) mass and cosmic density.
• These bounds are extended to larger masses by considering galaxy formation and evolution, and the phenomenon of black hole superradiance.
• We then discuss the formation of different classes of UBDM compact objects including solitons/axion stars and miniclusters.