Experimental Constraints on the Neutralino-Nucleon Cross Section

In the light of recent experimental results for the direct detection of dark matter, we analyze in the framework of SUGRA the value of the neutralino-nucleon cross section. We study how this value is modified when the usual assumptions of universal soft terms and GUT scale are relaxed. In particular we consider scenarios with non-universal scalar and gaugino masses and scenarios with intermediate unification scale. We also study superstring constructions with D-branes, where a combination of the above two scenarios arises naturally. In the analysis we take into account the most recent experimental constraints, such as the lower bound on the Higgs mass, the $b\to s\gamma$ branching ratio, and the muon $g-2$.Comment: References added, bsgamma upper bound improved, results unchanged, Talk given at Corfu Summer Institute on Elementary Particle Physics, August 31-September 20, 200

Right-handed sneutrino as thermal dark matter

We study an extension of the MSSM with a singlet S with coupling SH1H2 in order to solve the mu problem as in the NMSSM, and right-handed neutrinos N with couplings SNN in order to generate dynamically electroweak-scale Majorana masses. We show how in this model a purely right-handed sneutrino can be a viable candidate for cold dark matter in the Universe. Through the direct coupling to the singlet, the sneutrino can not only be thermal relic dark matter but also have a large enough scattering cross section with nuclei to detect it directly in near future, in contrast with most of other right-handed sneutrino dark matter models.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. References added and minor changes. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Calculable inverse-seesaw neutrino masses in supersymmetry

We provide a scenario where naturally small and calculable neutrino masses arise from a supersymmetry breaking renormalization-group-induced vacuum expectation value. We adopt a minimal supergravity scenario without ad hoc supersymmetric mass parameters. The lightest supersymmetric particle can be an isosinglet scalar neutrino state, potentially viable as WIMP dark matter through its Higgs new boson coupling. The scenario leads to a plethora of new phenomenological implications at accelerators including the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages, 4 figures. Comments and references added. Final version to appear in PR

The XENON100 exclusion limit without considering Leff as a nuisance parameter

In 2011, the XENON100 experiment has set unprecedented constraints on dark matter-nucleon interactions, excluding dark matter candidates with masses down to 6 GeV if the corresponding cross section is larger than 10^{-39} cm^2. The dependence of the exclusion limit in terms of the scintillation efficiency (Leff) has been debated at length. To overcome possible criticisms XENON100 performed an analysis in which Leff was considered as a nuisance parameter and its uncertainties were profiled out by using a Gaussian likelihood in which the mean value corresponds to the best fit Leff value smoothly extrapolated to zero below 3 keVnr. Although such a method seems fairly robust, it does not account for more extreme types of extrapolation nor does it enable to anticipate on how much the exclusion limit would vary if new data were to support a flat behaviour for Leff below 3 keVnr, for example. Yet, such a question is crucial for light dark matter models which are close to the published XENON100 limit. To answer this issue, we use a maximum Likelihood ratio analysis, as done by the XENON100 collaboration, but do not consider Leff as a nuisance parameter. Instead, Leff is obtained directly from the fits to the data. This enables us to define frequentist confidence intervals by marginalising over Leff.Comment: 10 pages;, 9 figures; references adde

Large dark matter cross sections from supergravity and superstrings

We study the direct detection of supersymmetric dark matter in the light of recent experimental results. In particular, we show that regions in the parameter space of several scenarios with a neutralino-nucleon cross section of the order of $10^{-6}$ pb, i.e., where current dark matter detectors are sensitive, can be obtained. These are supergravity scenarios with intermediate unification scale, and superstring scenarios with D-branes

Muon anomalous magnetic moment in supersymmetric scenarios with an intermediate scale and nonuniversality

We analyze the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (a_{\mu}) in supersymmetric scenarios. First we concentrate on scenarios with universal soft terms. We find that a moderate increase of a_{\mu} can be obtained by lowering the unification scale M_{GUT} to intermediate values 10^{10-12} GeV. However, large values of \tan \beta are still favored. Then we study the case of non-universal soft terms. For the usual value M_{GUT}~10^{16} GeV, we obtain a_{\mu} in the favored experimental range even for moderate \tan \beta regions \tan\beta ~ 5$. Finally, we give an explicit example of these scenarios. In particular, we show that in a D-brane model, where the string scale is naturally of order 10^{10-12} GeV and the soft terms are non universal, a_{\mu} is enhanced with low \tan\beta.Comment: Final version to appear in Phys. Rev. D. Conventions clarified, results in the figures improve

Particle Dark Matter Candidates

I give a short overview on some of the favorite particle Cold Dark Matter candidates today, focusing on those having detectable interactions: the axion, the KK-photon in Universal Extra Dimensions, the heavy photon in Little Higgs and the neutralino in Supersymmetry. The neutralino is still the most popular, and today is available in different flavours: SUGRA, nuSUGRA, sub-GUT, Mirage mediation, NMSSM, effective MSSM, scenarios with CP violation. Some of these scenarios are already at the level of present sensitivities for direct DM searches.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 3 references added. Contribution to the proceedings of the TAUP 07 conference, Sep. 11-15, Sendai, Japa

Probing neutralino dark matter in the MSSM & the NMSSM with directional detection

We investigate the capability of directional detectors to probe neutralino dark matter in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with parameters defined at the weak scale. We show that directional detectors such as the future MIMAC detector will probe spin dependent dark matter scattering on nucleons that are beyond the reach of current spin independent detectors. The complementarity between indirect searches, in particular using gamma rays from dwarf spheroidal galaxies, spin dependent and spin independent direct search techniques is emphasized. We comment on the impact of the negative results on squark searches at the LHC. Finally, we investigate how the fundamental parameters of the models can be constrained in the event of a dark matter signal.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figure

Maximum likelihood analysis of low energy CDMS II germanium data

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, sólo se referencian el primero, los autores que firman como Universidad Autónoma de Madrid y el grupo de colaboración en el caso de que aparezca en el artículoWe report on the results of a search for a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) signal in low-energy data of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment using a maximum likelihood analysis. A background model is constructed using geant4 to simulate the surface-event background from Pb210 decay-chain events, while using independent calibration data to model the gamma background. Fitting this background model to the data results in no statistically significant WIMP component. In addition, we perform fits using an analytic ad hoc background model proposed by Collar and Fields, who claimed to find a large excess of signal-like events in our data. We confirm the strong preference for a signal hypothesis in their analysis under these assumptions, but excesses are observed in both single- and multiple-scatter events, which implies the signal is not caused by WIMPs, but rather reflects the inadequacy of their background modelThis work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation, by the United States Department of Energy, by NSERC Canada, and by MultiDark (Spanish MINECO). Fermilab is operated by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. De-AC02-07CH11359. SLAC is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515 with the United States Department of Energ