Dark Forces and Dark Matter in a Hidden Sector

Abstract: Hidden sectors in connection with GeV-scale dark forces and dark matter are not only a common feature of physics beyond the Standard Model such as string theory and SUSY but are also phenomenologically of great interest regarding recent astrophysical observations. The hidden photon in particular is also searched for and constrained by laboratory experiments, the current status of which will be presented here. Furthermore, several models of hidden sectors containing in addition a dark matter particle will be examined regarding their consistency with the dark matter relic abundance and direct detection experiments.