Review of astrophysical probes of dark matter

Abstract: Research on dark matter has been ongoing for almost a century. Findings show that dark matter makes up 27% of the universe’s density and thus it is a crucial component of understanding how the universe came about. This thesis describes the key pieces of evidence for the existence of dark matter and its properties. An emphasis is put on the effects of dark matter on processes in the early universe. Methods of dark matter detection are introduced with a focus on indirect detection experiments. Furthermore, an analysis of positron data measured by the AMS detector from 2011 to 2017 in terms of dark matter is presented.