Candidates for non—baryonic dark matter

Direct Detection of Nonbaryonic Dark Matter

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are leading candidates for the dominant part of the mass density of the Universe. Here we will review direct WIMP detection techniques by giving examples of currently running experiments, and present the status of the most promising future projects.

Supersymmetric Candidates for Dark Matter

Direct and indirect detection rates of relic neutralinos are reviewed in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The theoretical estimates are compared with the most recent experimental limits from low–background detectors and neutrino telescopes. The properties of neutralino under the hypothesis that preliminary experimental results of the DAMA/NaI Collaboration may be indi...

Particle Candidates for Dark Matter

Dark Matter Candidates

An overview is given of various dark matter candidates. Among the many suggestions given in the literature, axions, inert Higgs doublet, sterile neutrinos, supersymmetric particles and Kaluza-Klein particles are discussed. The situation has recently become very interesting with new results on antimatter in the cosmic rays having dark matter as one of the leading possible explanations. Problems ...

Scalar Dark Matter candidates

We investigate the possibility that Dark Matter could be made of scalar candidates and focus, in particular, on the unusual mass range between a few MeV’s and a few GeV’s. After showing why the Lee-Weinberg limit (which usually forbids a Dark Matter mass below a few GeV’s) does not necessarily apply in the case of scalar particles, we discuss how light candidates (mdm < O(GeV) ) can satisfy bot...