Dark Matter Self Interactions and its Impact on Large Scale Structures

The LambdaCDM model of cosmology, though very successful at large scales, has some discrepancy with observations at the galactic and sub-galactic scales. These include the core-cusp problem, missing satellites problem etc. Spergel and Steingardt (2000) proposed that if dark matter undergoes feeble self interactions with each other, then such problems can be averted. In this thesis, a two-component Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP) dark matter model involving two singlet scalar fields capable of self-interactions has been proposed and its impact on large scale structure formation has been studied through cosmological simulations. The proposed model involves simple extensions of the Standard Model with two singlet scalar fields formed non-thermally through the decay of heavier particles in the very early universe. These particles acquire their relic abundance through a freeze-in mechanism. The coupled Boltzmann equation of the FIMP-FIMP model was solved and the relic densities for different values of the coupling parameters were obtained and matched with PLANCK results. The impact of dark matter self interactions was studied through cosmological simulations using a modified version of the parallel TreePM code GADGET-2 and the halo mass function and halo catalog for different dark matter self interaction cross sections were obtained. Lastly, the newly developed Effective Theory of Structure Formation (ETHOS) framework which is a new and innovative paradigm in the study of the cosmological effects of different dark matter models was studied and using the public code, ETHOS-CAMB the signatures of dark acoustic oscillations in the matter power spectrum for a particular dark matter model was obtained.

Masters Thesis