Theoretical strategies for comparing dark matter searches

The thesis discusses two semplified models describing the dark matter particle and the mediator of its interaction with the standard model, with a critical discussion of the validity of the effective theory in these two case studies. After an introduction to dark matter, a review of two alternative proposals (today nearly ruled out) with respect to the introduction of a new particle, and a discussion of the main dark matter particle candidates and of the experimental searches, the two case studies of this thesis are checked against many experimental constraints, with a critical study of the regime of validity of the effective theory.