Dark Matter: Looking for WIMPs in the Galactic Halo

Abstract

Overwhelming observational evidence indicates that most of the matter in the Universe consists of non‐baryonic dark matter. One possibility is that the dark matter is Weakly‐Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that were produced in the early Universe. These relics could comprise the Milky Way’s dark halo and provide evidence for new particle physics, such as Supersymmetry. After reviewing some of the evidence for dark matter and the WIMP hypothesis, I will describe the strategy for searching for WIMPs, along with a survey of the current status and outlook. In particular, dark matter searches have begun to explore the region of parameter space where SUSY particles could provide dark matter candidates. I will also mention some of the recent theoretical work on dark matter candidates which is being done in anticipation of the turn‐on of the LHC and as part of the active R&D on the ILC. Finally, a vigorous detector development program promises significant advances in WIMP sensitivity in the coming years.