Probing the Fundamental Nature of Dark Matter with the Large Synoptic\n Survey Telescope

Abstract

Astrophysical and cosmological observations currently provide the only\nrobust, empirical measurements of dark matter. Future observations with Large\nSynoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will provide necessary guidance for the\nexperimental dark matter program. This white paper represents a community\neffort to summarize the science case for studying the fundamental physics of\ndark matter with LSST. We discuss how LSST will inform our understanding of the\nfundamental properties of dark matter, such as particle mass, self-interaction\nstrength, non-gravitational couplings to the Standard Model, and compact object\nabundances. Additionally, we discuss the ways that LSST will complement other\nexperiments to strengthen our understanding of the fundamental characteristics\nof dark matter. More information on the LSST dark matter effort can be found at\nhttps://lsstdarkmatter.github.io/ .