
arXiv: 1410.2236
Dark matter is a vital component of the current best model of our universe, $��$CDM. There are leading candidates for what the dark matter could be (e.g. weakly-interacting massive particles, or axions), but no compelling observational or experimental evidence exists to support these particular candidates, nor any beyond-the-Standard-Model physics that might produce such candidates. This suggests that other dark matter candidates, including ones that might arise in the Standard Model, should receive increased attention. Here we consider a general class of dark matter candidates with characteristic masses and interaction cross-sections characterized in units of grams and cm$^2$, respectively -- we therefore dub these macroscopic objects as Macros. Such dark matter candidates could potentially be assembled out of Standard Model particles (quarks and leptons) in the early universe. A combination of Earth-based, astrophysical, and cosmological observations constrain a portion of the Macro parameter space. A large region of parameter space remains, most notably for nuclear-dense objects with masses in the range $55 - 10^{17}$ g and $2\times10^{20} - 4\times10^{24}$ g, although the lower mass window is closed for Macros that destabilize ordinary matter.
13 pages, 1 table, 4 figures. Submitted to MNRAS. v3: corrected small errors and a few points were made more clear, v4: included CMB bounds on dark matter-photon coupling from Wilkinson et al. (2014) and references added. Final revision matches published version
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph), Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph), Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
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