Supersymmetric dark matter and neutralino-nucleon cross section

Abstract

We review the direct detection of supersymmetric dark matter in the light of recent experimental results. In particular, we show that regions in the parameter space of several supergravity scenarios with a neutralino-nucleon cross section of order of $10^{-6}$ pb, i.e., where current dark matter detectors are sensitive, can be obtained. These are scenarios with large $\tan \beta$, with non-universal soft supersymmetry-breaking terms, with multi-TeV masses for scalar superpartners known as `focus point' supersymmetry, and finally scenarios with intermediate unification scale which appear naturally in some superstring constructions.

Comments: Extension of a talk given at Cairo International Conference on High Energy Physics (CICHEP 2001), January 9-14, 22 pages, 10 figures. Conventions clarified, figures improved, references added