Searching for Dark Matter-Can it be directly detected?

The direct detection rate for supersymmetric cold dark matter (CDM) particles is calculated for a number of suitable nuclear targets. Both the coherent and spin contributions are considered. By considering representative phenomenologically acceptable input in the restricted SUSY parameter space, detectable rates are predicted for some choices of the parameters. The modulation effect, due to the Earth's annual motion, has also been considered and found to be $\le 4%$. Its prec...

Exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy or cosmological constant seem to dominate in the Universe. An even higher density of such matter seems to be gravitationally trapped in the Galaxy. Thus its direct detection is central to particle physics and cosmology. Current supersymmetric models provide a natural dark matter candidate which is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). Such models combined with fairly well understood physics like the quark substructure o...

We consider the neutralino as a dominant Dark Matter particle in the galactic halo and investigate some general issues of direct Dark Matter searches via elastic neutralino-nucleus scattering. On the basis of conventional assumptions about the nuclear and nucleon structure we analyse constraints on SUSY model parameter space accessible by the direct Dark Matter searches. This analysis shows that Dark Matter detectors fall into the THREE different categories with respect to th...

Exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) seem to dominate in the flat Universe. Thus direct dark matter detection is central to particle physics and cosmology. Supersymmetry provides a natural dark matter candidate, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). Furthermore from the knowledge of the density and velocity distribution of the LSP, the quark substructure of the nucleon and the nuclear structure (form factor and/or spin response func...

We present an overview of supersymmetry searches, both at collider experiments and via searches for dark matter (DM). We focus on three DM possibilities in the SUSY context: the thermally produced neutralino, a mixture of axion and axino, and the gravitino, and compare and contrast signals that may be expected at colliders, in direct detection (DD) experiments searching of DM relics left over from the Big Bang, and indirect detection (ID) experiments designed to detect the pr...

The existence of dark matter was suggested, using simple gravitational arguments, seventy years ago. Although we are now convinced that most of the mass in the Universe is indeed some non-luminous matter, we still do not know its composition. The problem of the dark matter in the Universe is reviewed here. Particle candidates for dark matter are discussed with particular emphasis on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). Experiments searching for these relic particles,...

The lightest neutralino in supersymmetric models with conserved R-parity is an attractive candidate for non-luminous matter in the universe. If relic neutralinos are indeed present as dark matter in our galaxy, they can be directly detected in scattering experiments. This could serve as an independent search channel for supersymmetry complementary to collider experiments. I compare the sensitivity of direct detection experiments with the reach for supersymmetry at collider fa...

We performed a combined analysis of the parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) taking into account cosmological and accelerator constraints including those from the radiative $b\rightarrow s\gamma$ decay measured by the CLEO collaboration. Special attention is paid to the event rate, $R$, of direct dark matter neutralino detection. We have found domains of the parameter space with $R\simeq 5-10$~events/kg/day. This would be within the reach of cur...

In this paper, we will describe the results of SUSY parameter space searches including minimal supergravity, non-universal supergravity and minimal supersymmetry and the implications on the indirect detection of neutralino dark matter. We give special attention to the effects of detector thresholds, solar absorption of neutrinos and hadronization of neutralino annihilation products. These effects are known to be important in calculating accurate event rates.

Up to now searches for Dark Matter (DM) detection have not been successful, either because our paradigm in how DM signals should look like are wrong or the detector sensitivity is still too low in spite of the large progress made in recent years. We discuss both possibilities starting with what we know about DM from cosmology and why Supersymmetry provides such an interesting paradigm for cosmology and particle physics in order to appreciate what it means to give up this para...