arXiv subjects

Jaco de Swart

Publications and source records attributed to Jaco de Swart.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Before WIMPs: Neutrinos and the origins of particle dark matter

After four decades of null-results, the experimental quest to discover a dark matter particle ardently continues. While confidence in the leading candidate, the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), is waning, its explanatory success still shapes current experimental approaches and theoretical expectations - from underground detecting efforts in Europe, China, and the U.S. to modern theories of cosmic structure. This paper traces the origins of this particle-based paradigm to a critical predecessor: the neutrino-dominated universe. Proposed in the early 1970s as a solution to extra-galactic anomalies, neutrinos became the leading explanation of 'missing matter' following experimental hints of neutrino mass in 1980. Although short-lived, the model's coherent picture of cosmic evolution and structure formation set strong conceptual and methodological standards - providing critical impetus to the field of particle cosmology. Examining this history invites renewed reflection on how such past aims and expectations continue to guide dark matter inquiry today.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2025

TAMBO: A Deep-Valley Neutrino Observatory

Although the field of neutrino astronomy has blossomed in the last decade, physicists have struggled to fully map the high-energy neutrino sky. TAMBO, a mountain-based neutrino observatory, aims to solve that issue -- and find clues of new physics along the way.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Closing in on the Cosmos: Cosmology's Rebirth and the Rise of the Dark Matter Problem

Influenced by the renaissance of general relativity that came to pass in the 1950s, the character of cosmology fundamentally changed in the 1960s as it became a well-established empirical science. Although observations went to dominate its practice, extra-theoretical beliefs and principles reminiscent of methodological debates in the 1950s kept playing an important tacit role in cosmological considerations. Specifically, belief in cosmologies that modeled a "closed universe" based on Machian insights remained influential. The rise of the dark matter problem in the early 1970s serves to illustrate this hybrid methodological character of cosmological science.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2017

How Dark Matter Came to Matter

The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not until the early 1970s that the issue of 'missing matter' was widely recognized as problematic. In the latter period, previously separate issues involving missing mass were brought together in a single anomaly. We argue that reference to a straightforward 'accumulation of evidence' alone is inadequate to comprehend this episode. Rather, the rise of cosmological research, the accompanying renewed interest in the theory of relativity and changes in the manpower division of astronomy in the 1960s are key to understanding how dark matter came to matter. At the same time, this story may also enlighten us on the methodological dimensions of past practices of physics and cosmology.

astro-ph.CO↗