Supersymmetric Candidates for Dark Matter (in German)

TL;DR

This paper explores supersymmetric particles, especially the neutralino and gravitino, as promising dark matter candidates, highlighting their detection prospects in current and future experiments like the LHC.

Contribution

It reviews the potential of supersymmetric particles as dark matter candidates and discusses experimental strategies for their detection at colliders and in astrophysical searches.

Findings

Lightest neutralino as a dark matter candidate in supersymmetry

Gravitino as a viable dark matter candidate with indirect detection methods

Upcoming collider experiments like the LHC could identify supersymmetric dark matter particles

Abstract

The identity of dark matter is one of the greatest puzzles of our Universe. Its solution may be associated with supersymmetry which is a fundamental space-time symmetry that has not been verified experimentally so far. In many supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, the lightest supersymmetric particle cannot decay and is hence a promising dark matter candidate. The lightest neutralino, which appears already in the minimal supersymmetric model, can be identified as such a candidate in indirect and direct dark matter searches and at future colliders. As the superpartner of the graviton, the gravitino is another candidate for the lightest superparticle that provides a compelling explanation of dark matter. While it will neither be detected in indirect or direct searches nor be produced directly at accelerators, the analysis of late-decaying charged particles can allow for an experimental identification of the gravitino at future accelerators. In this way, the upcoming experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider may become a key to the understanding of our Universe.