Non-baryonic dark matter

Abstract

There exist several well-motivated candidates for non-baryonic cold dark matter, including neutralinos, axions, axinos, gravitinos, Wimpzillas. I review the dark matter properties of the neutralino and the current status of its detection. I also discuss the axino as a new interesting alternative. There exist several well-motivated candidates for non-baryonic cold dark matter, including neutralinos, axions, axinos, gravitinos, Wimpzillas. I review the dark matter properties of the neutralino and the current status of its detection. I also discuss the axino as a new interesting alternative.

The Search for Stable, Massive, Elementary Particles

“…To understand detector requirements it is important to know the rates expected from dark matter WIMPS. Typical rates predicted from supersymmetry models range from 10 −5 to 10 events/kg/day, for a deposition of energy between 1 and 100 keV in the detector [31]. If one includes cosmological constraints, such as requiring WIMPS to fill the dark matter budget, then one gets rates ≤ 10 −2 events/kg/day, which are about an order of magnitude below current detector sensitivities.…”

“…Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS) are considered one of the leading candidates for cold dark matter [6,30,31]. Of the various types of WIMPS, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP, e.g., neutralino) with mass between 1 GeV/c 2 and 1 TeV/c 2 and interaction cross section with ordinary matter σ < σ weak , is amongst the favored [31]. In Sec.…”

“…There have been numerous reviews on the subject of WIMPS [6,[30][31][32][33][34][35]and descriptions of various experiments and their status [32,36]. Here we discuss some general features of dark matter WIMP searches and briefly review the most sensitive current experimental limits.…”

“…In this category there are currently over twenty experiments that are in various stages of planning, construction, or running [31,38]. One experiment, DAMA, has in fact claimed a positive signal, which they find to be consistent with a WIMP mass of 52 +10 −8 GeV/c 2 at 4σ C.L.…”

“…If one includes cosmological constraints, such as requiring WIMPS to fill the dark matter budget, then one gets rates ≤ 10 −2 events/kg/day, which are about an order of magnitude below current detector sensitivities. Given the rarity of WIMP interactions it is important to understand and use specific signatures that can be used to eliminate backgrounds and bolster claims [6,30,31]. Two of these, the modulations of event rates and corresponding variations of the energy spectrum, have already been mentioned.…”