Research report 2007 - Max Planck Institute for Physics

Supersymmetric Candidates for Dark Matter

Authors
Steffen, Frank Daniel
Departments

Theoretische Astroteilchenphysik (Dr. Raffelt) (Dr. habil. Georg Raffelt)
MPI für Physik, München

Summary
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.

For the full text, see the German version.

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