Joint Rome Workshop "Challenges in the Dark Sector: Alternatives to the WIMP paradigm”

Identifying what Dark Matter (DM) is, as well as its nature and properties, remains a major challenge for both theoretical and experimental astroparticle physics communities. In the past decades, WIMP DM has been the most hunted candidate, with the result that nowadays WIMPS are cornered by large amounts of experimental data from Direct Detection, Indirect Detection, and Collider Experiments. If no WIMP signal is detected in the next few years, the possibility that this very appealing theoretical idea is not what Nature has chosen will become even more compelling and will boost theoretical studies and experimental searches for non-WIMP alternatives for DM. The aim of this 3-day meeting is to convene experts on alternatives to the WIMP paradigm to stimulate informal discussions on different possibilities (dark photons, axion-like particles, Majorons, self-interacting dark sectors, just to mention a few). We plan to have only three or four talks each day, and plenty of time to discuss implications of these DM scenarios, experimental search strategies, new theoretical proposals, and out-of-mainstream ideas. The general approach and format of the talks will be pedagogical and aimed at favoring extended discussions among all participants. The audience will range from theorists who are expert on related topics to skillful experimentalists planning new non-WIMP detection experiments, as well as postdocs, graduate students, and non-expert colleagues working in different areas.