Direct SUSY Dark Matter Detection- Constraints on the Spin Cross Section

Abstract

The recent WMAP data have confirmed that exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) dominate in the flat Universe. Thus the direct dark matter detection, consisting of detecting the recoiling nucleus, is central to particle physics and cosmology. Supersymmetry provides a natural dark matter candidate, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). The relevant cross sections arise out of two mechanisms: i) The coherent mode, due to the scalar interaction and ii) The spin contribution arising from the axial current. In this paper we will focus on the spin contribution, which maybe important, especially for light targets.