When studying astrophysical structures with sizes ranging from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters, it becomes clear that there are vast amounts of unobservable gravitating mass. A compelling hypothesis is that this missing mass, which we call dark matter, consists of elementary particles that can be described in the same manner as those of the standard model of particle physics. This thesis is dedicated to the study of particle dark matter in astrophysical systems. The solar composition problem refers to the current mismatch between theoretical predictions and observations of the solar convection zone depth and sound speed profile. It has been shown that heat transfer by dark matter in the Sun may cool the solar core and alleviate the problem. We discuss solar capture of a self-interacting Dirac fermion dark matter candidate and show that, even though particles and antiparticles annihilate, the abundance of such a particle may be large enough to influence solar physics. Currently, direct and indirect methods are employed in searches for dark matter. In this context, we study inelastic dark matter, where a small mass splitting separates two dark matter particles and scattering takes one into the other. This affects the scattering kinematics, which in turn affects direct detection and solar capture rates. We also discuss the information contained in a direct detection signal and how it can be used to infer a minimal solar capture rate of dark matter. When comparing simulated dark matter halos with collisionless dark matter with dark matter halos inferred from observations, problems appear in the smallest structures. A proposed solution is self-interacting dark matter with long range forces. As the simplest models are under severe constraints, we study self-interactions in a model of inelastic dark matter. / <p>QC 20170309</p>

Dark matter has been inferred from various observations such as in galaxy clusters, flat galactic rotation curves, gravitational lensing measurements and the cosmic microwave background. Despite overwhelming observational evidence and ongoing searches, a clear signal of dark matter has not yet been detected. Searches for dark matter include direct detection of dark matter scattering off target nuclei in underground detectors and indirect detection of dark matter annihilation- and decay products. A promising way to detect these invisible particles is by capture of dark matter in the Sun. Dark matter from the galactic halo is assumed to scatter off solar nuclei and being captured provided that their velocities are smaller than the Sun's escape velocity. The captured particles are assumed to continuously scatter until reaching thermal equilibrium. As dark matter is accumulated in the Sun, they will start to annihilate. The resulting annihilation products are what we hope to detect on Earth. We review the capture rate of elastic and inelastic dark matter in the Sun and dark matter direct detection. Lower bounds on the solar capture rate for a given dark matter mass can be obtained independently of halo-related properties e.g., the dark matter velocity distribution and local density, if one assumes that a direct detection signal has been observed. These bounds can be compared to solar neutrino flux bounds in detectors to obtain limits on the branching fraction of annihilation of dark matter resulting in neutrinos. Lower bounds for the elastic and exothermic inelastic dark matter are computed assuming the Standard Halo Model. The exothermic bounds are strong and larger than the elastic bounds as well as those that would be obtained in the endothermic case. / Existensen av mörk materia har idag gjorts trolig genom t.ex. observationer av galaktiska kluster, galaktiska rotationskurvor, gravitationslinsmätningar och den kosmiska mikrovågsbakgrunden. Trots ett stort antal observationer, så har vi emellertid inte lyckats detektera en tydlig signal för mörk materia. I sökandet ingår direkt detektion av kollisioner mellan mörk materia och atomkärnor i underjordiska detektorer samt indirekt detektion av dess annihilation- och sönderfallsprodukter. Ett särskilt lovande sätt, på vilket dessa osynliga partiklar kan tänkas detekteras, är genom infångning av mörk materia i solen. Mörk materia från den galaktiska halon antas då spridas på solatomkärnor och infångas förutsatt att deras hastighet är lägre än flykthastigheten från solen. De infångade partiklarna antas därefter kollidera tills dess att de uppnår termisk jämvikt. När mörk materia har ackumulerats i solen så börjar den att annihilera, och det är de resulterande annihilationsprodukterna som vi hoppas kunna detektera här på jorden. Vi undersöker infångning av elastisk och inelastisk mörk materia i solen och direkt detektion av mörk materia. Nedre gränser för solinfångning för en given mörk materiamassa kan erhållas oberoende av halo-relaterade egenskaper som t.ex. mörk materiahastighetsfördelning och lokal densitet, under antagandet att en direkt detektionssignal har observerats. Dessa gränser kan jämföras med flödeshastigheten av neutrinos från solen för att erhålla gränser för övergångssannolikheter för annihilation av mörk materia som resulterar i neutrinos. Nedre gränser för elastisk och exotermisk inelastisk mörk materia är beräknade genom att anta Standard Halo Modellen. De exotermiska gränserna är starka och högre än de elastiska gränserna såväl som de som skulle ha erhållits i det endotermiska fallet.