Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: For many working in particle physics and cosmology successful discovery and characterisation of the new particles that most likely explain the non-baryonic cold dark matter, known to comprise the majority of matter in the Universe, would be the most significant advance in physics for a century. Reviewed here is the current status of direct searches for such particles, in particular the so-called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), together with a brief overview of the possible future direction of the field extrapolated from recent advances. Current best limits are at or below 10-7 pb for spin-independent neutralino coupling, sufficient that experiments are already probing SUSY models. However, new detectors with tonne-scale mass and/or capability to correlate signal events to our motion through the Galaxy will likely be needed to determine finally whether WIMPs exist.
Author: Neil J. C. Spooner
Institution: University of Sheffield
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G4610689468
OpenAlex ID: W2041266902