Supersymmetric Dark Matter - a Review

TL;DR

This review evaluates the viability of the lightest neutralino in supersymmetry as a dark matter candidate, discussing its properties, experimental constraints, and detection prospects within various theoretical frameworks.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of neutralino dark matter, including phenomenological constraints, implications of grand unification, and future experimental detection prospects.

Findings

Neutralino mass constrained between 20 and 150 GeV.

Sfermion masses likely beyond current collider reach but accessible at future colliders.

Gaugino-like neutralino identified as the most natural dark matter candidate.

Abstract

I address the question of whether supersymmetry provides a viable candidate for the dark matter in the Universe. I review the properties of the lightest neutralino as a candidate for solving the dark matter problem. I discuss the neutralino's phenomenological and cosmological properties, and constraints from present and future experiments. In the minimal supersymmetric model, the neutralino mass has been experimentally excluded below some $20$ GeV, and is not expected to be significantly larger than about $150$ GeV. I identify a gaugino-like neutralino as the most natural dark matter candidate for a plausible range of parameters. The requirement that the lightest neutralino be the dominant matter component in the flat Universe provides non-trivial restrictions on other parameters of the model, in particular on the masses of the sfermions. Next, I study the consequences of adopting further grand unification assumptions. In both scenarios I find sfermion masses most likely beyond the reach of LEP 200 and the Tevatron but well within the discovery potential of the SSC and the LHC. I also comment on the effects of relaxing grand unification assumptions. Finally, I briefly outline prospects for the neutralino dark matter searches.