Direct Detection of Dark Matter Particles with Underground Experiments

by Igor G Irastorza (CERN-EP)

Monday 10 Dec 2001, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Zurich

500/1-001 - Main Auditorium (CERN)

The existence of Dark Matter, first pointed out some 70 years ago, is nowadays one of the pillars of the new cosmological paradigm. Its mostly non-baryonic nature and its presence at galactic scales are also two well-based hypotheses in which rely some of the on-going experimental efforts to detect it. In this talk I will briefly review the basics of the direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with underground experiments. This relatively new experimental field is now progressing fast, as proven by the increasing number and size of groups which are involved in these types of experiments and the number of papers studying its theoretical and phenomenological aspects. This development, together with the recent amount of information coming from cosmological observations, has reduced considerably the sources of uncertainty typically attributed to this topic. I will briefly describe the present experimental situation, focusing on my own experience as a member of the IGEX Dark Matter experiment being carried out at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in the Spanish Pyrenees. The latest results of this experiment will be presented. These are comparable with the best exclusion limits and in particular begin to test the controversial result of the DAMA collaboration, which claims to have already detected a WIMP. I will finish with the perspectives of this field to eventually detect and identify unambiguously a WIMP as a constituent of the Dark Matter galactic halo.

Organiser(s): Ariane Frey / EP Division

Note: Tea & coffee will be served at 16.00 hrs.