Natural SUSY Dark Matter: A Window on the GUT Scale

Abstract

One of the key motivations for supersymmetry is that it provides a natural candidate for dark matter. For a long time the density of this candidate particle fell within cosmological bounds across much of the SUSY parameter space. However with the precision results of WMAP, it has become apparent that the majority of the SUSY parameter space no longer fits the observed relic density. This has given rise to claims that supersymmetry no longer provides a natural explanation of dark matter. We address this claim by quantifying the degree of fine-tuning required for the different dark matter regions. We find that the dark matter regions vary widely in the degree of tuning required. This degree of tuning can then be used to provide valuable insights into the structure of SUSY breaking at the GUT scale.