The DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation data, which may be interpreted as a signal for the existence of weakly interacting dark matter (WIMPs) in our galactic halo, are examined in light of null results from other experiments: CDMS, XENON10, CRESST I, CoGeNT, TEXONO, and Super-Kamiokande (Su-perK). We use the energy spectrum of the combined DAMA modulation data given in 36 bins, and include the effect of channeling. Several statistical tools are implemented in our study: likelihood ratio with a global fit and with raster scans in the WIMP mass and goodness-of-fit (g.o.f.). These approaches allow us to differentiate between the preferred (global best fit) and allowed (g.o.f.) parameter regions. It is hard to find WIMP masses and couplings consistent with all existing data sets; the surviving regions of parameter space are found here. For spin-independent (SI) interactions, the best fit DAMA regions are ruled out to the 3σ C.L., even with channeling taken into account. However, for WIMP masses of ∼8 GeV some parameters outside these regions still yield a moderately reasonable fit to the DAMA data and are compatible with all 90% C.L. upper limits from negative searches, when channeling is included. For spin-dependent (SD) interactions with proton-only couplings, a range of masses below 10 GeV is compatible with DAMA and other experiments, with and without channeling, when SuperK indirect detection constraints are included; without the SuperK constraints, masses as high as ∼20 GeV are compatible. For SD neutron-only couplings we find no parameters compatible with all the experiments. Mixed SD couplings are examined: e.g. ∼8 GeV mass WIMPs with a n = ±a p are found to be consistent with all experiments. In short, there are surviving regions at low mass for both SI and SD interactions; if indirect detection limits are relaxed, some SD proton-only couplings at higher masses also survive.

Direct detection experiments, which are designed to detect the scattering of dark matter off nuclei in detectors, are a critical component in the search for the Universe's missing matter. The count rate in these experiments should experience an annual modulation due to the relative motion of the Earth around the Sun. This modulation, not present for most known background sources, is critical for solidifying the origin of a potential signal as dark matter. In this article, we review the physics of annual modulation, discussing the practical formulae needed to interpret a modulating signal. We focus on how the modulation spectrum changes depending on the particle and astrophysics models for the dark matter. For standard assumptions, the count rate has a cosine dependence with time, with a maximum in June and a minimum in December. Well-motivated generalizations of these models, however, can affect both the phase and amplitude of the modulation. We show how a measurement of an annually modulating signal could teach us about the presence of substructure in the Galactic halo or about the interactions between dark and baryonic matter. Although primarily a theoretical review, we briefly discuss the current experimental situation for annual modulation and future experimental directions.

We review the uncertainties in the spin-independent and spin-dependent elastic scattering cross sections of supersymmetric dark matter particles on protons and neutrons. We propagate the uncertainties in quark masses and hadronic matrix elements that are related to the -nucleon term and the spin content of the nucleon. By far the largest single uncertainty is that in spin-independent scattering induced by our ignorance of the hNj qqjNi matrix elements linked to the -nucleon term, which affects the ratio of cross sections on proton and neutron targets as well as their absolute values. This uncertainty is already impacting the interpretations of experimental searches for cold dark matter. We plead for an experimental campaign to determine better the -nucleon term. Uncertainties in the spin content of the proton affect significantly, but less strongly, the calculation of rates used in indirect searches.