Observational constraints on Dark Matter models

In this lecture note, the author gives a short summary of how observations constrain Dark Matter models, including the detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and the associated challenges, in addition to the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest as a cosmological probe of the power spectrum and its constraints on Dark Matter models.

The goal of this lecture note is to give readers a brief overview of the current major efforts on the search for Dark Matter evidence and the reasons that some of these efforts, i.e. search for WIMPs, have so far been to no avail. The lecture note also includes a self-contained summary on the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest cosmological probe, where the features are produced by absorption of Lyman-$\alpha$ by neutral hydrogen at 1215A, which further defines the power spectrum through statistical fluctuations. The observed power spectrum is used to exclude Dark Matter candidates or constrain Dark Matter properties.

In short, the manuscript is well-structured and has the necessary details to present itself as a concise lecture note. I recommend this manuscript for publication in SciPost Physics Lecture Notes.

Publish (meets expectations and criteria for this Journal)

The paper does a wonderful job in explaining few of the novel methods used to detect dark matter, with the key focus being the Lyman-alpha probe for detecting dark matter. The author first highlights the current experiments, both direct and indirect means of detection, which are in use for dark matter detection. These experiments rule out models for dark matter by putting constraints. The paper then steadily develops towards using the matter power spectrum and the Lyman-alpha forest to further constrain the dark matter space, proving its usefulness for a range of masses of dark matter.

None

The acceptance criteria of the journal are well met. The report is compact, yet highlights key details about the probes used to detect dark matter.

There are a few typos that could be fixed before publishing, such as a spelling error for 'modelling' in line 213, and removing an additional bracket in the expression for 'zeta' in line 219.

A spelling error for 'modelling' in line 213, and removing an additional bracket in the expression for 'zeta' in line 219.

Publish (surpasses expectations and criteria for this Journal; among top 10%)