Direct dark matter detection: the next decade

TL;DR

This paper discusses the future of direct dark matter detection, focusing on advanced detector technologies aiming to probe extremely low interaction cross sections and potentially identify dark matter particle properties within the next decade.

Contribution

It outlines the development of ultimate WIMP detectors capable of reaching unprecedented sensitivity levels, and discusses how these can complement collider and indirect searches to understand dark matter.

Findings

Projected sensitivity of detectors down to 1e-48 cm2 cross section.

Potential to constrain WIMP mass and spin properties.

Integration with LHC and indirect detection to study dark matter halo.

Abstract

Direct dark matter searches are promising techniques to identify the nature of dark matter particles. I describe the future of this field of research, focussing on the question of what can be achieved in the next decade. I will present the main techniques and R&D projects that will allow to build so-called ultimate WIMP detectors, capable of probing spin-independent interactions down to the unimaginably low cross section of 1e-48 cm2, before the irreducible neutrino background takes over. If a discovery is within the reach of a near-future dark matter experiment, these detectors will be able to constrain WIMP properties such as its mass, scattering cross section and possibly spin. With input from the LHC and from indirect searches, direct detection experiments will hopefully allow to determine the local density and to constrain the local phase-space structure of our dark matter halo.