UCL Space & Climate Physics: Theory Group: Recent Papers

Since 1990's the detection of extremely energetic air showers and precise astronomical measurements have proved that our knowledge about fundamental laws of Nature is far from being complete. These observations have found convincing evidences against two popular believes: The spectrum of Cosmic Rays would have a steep cutoff at energies around 10¹⁹eV (GZK cutoff) and the contravortial quantity called Cosmological Constant (dark energy) should be strictly zero. They have been important additions to the yet unsolved mystery of the nature of dark matter. For both phenomena many models have been suggested. The top-down model decay of a Superheavy Dark Matter(SDM), also called WIMPZILLA as the origin of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) — is one of the most favorite candidates. Here we show that a meaningful constraints on the mass, lifetime and cosmological contribution of SDM is possible only if the energy dissipation of the remnants is precisely taken into account. We discuss the simulation of relevant processes and their evolution in the cosmological environment. We show that such a dark matter can be the dominant component of Cold Dark Matter (CDM) with a relatively short lifetime. Moreover, the equation of State of the Universe in this model fits the Supernova type Ia data better than a stable dark matter. If a small fraction of the mass of the SDM decays to an axion-like scalar field, its condensation can also explain the dark energy without need for extreme fine tuning of the parameters. Presumably, a meta-stable dark matter can explain 3 mysteries of Physics and Cosmology. Finally we review some of the particle physics and cosmological issues related to SDM and its associated quintessence field.