Direct detection of dark matter: a critical review

Abstract

The nature of the dark matter in the Universe is one of the hardest unsolved problems in modern physics. Indeed, on one hand, the overwhelming indirect evidence from astrophysics seems to leave no doubt about its existence; on the other hand, direct search experiments, especially those conducted with low background detectors in underground laboratories all over the world seem to deliver only null results, with a few debated exceptions. Furthermore, the lack of predicted candidates at the LHC energy scale has made this dichotomy even more puzzling. We will recall the most important phases of this novel branch of experimental astro-particle physics, analyzing the interconnections among the main projects involved in this challenging quest, and we will draw conclusions slightly different from how the problem is commonly understood.

arXiv comment28 pages, 15 picture, 2 tables

References in corpus (73)

• Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
• Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC
• The Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (in "The Review of Particle Properties" 2004)
• Particle Dark Matter: Evidence, Candidates and Constraints
• Supersymmetric Dark Matter
• The Cosmological Parameters 2006
• Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (Particle Data Group mini-review)
• A Unified Approach to the Classical Statistical Analysis of Small Signals
• Direct Evidence for Neutrino Flavor Transformation from Neutral-Current Interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
• Small-Scale Challenges to the $\Lambda$CDM Paradigm
• The Structure of Dark Matter Haloes in Dwarf Galaxies
• The MACHO Project: Microlensing Results from 5.7 Years of LMC Observations
• Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND): Observational Phenomenology and Relativistic Extensions
• First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment
• DarkSide-20k: A 20 Tonne Two-Phase LAr TPC for Direct Dark Matter Detection at LNGS
• A New Era in the Quest for Dark Matter
• First results from the CRESST-III low-mass dark matter program
• Excess Electronic Recoil Events in XENON1T
• Direct Detection of WIMP Dark Matter: Concepts and Status
• Superheavy dark matter
• The Mathematical Universe
• Low-Mass Dark Matter Search with the DarkSide-50 Experiment
• First Dark Matter Search with Nuclear Recoils from the XENONnT Experiment
• Complete results for five years of GNO solar neutrino observations
• Compatibility of DAMA/LIBRA dark matter detection with other searches
• DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector
• The Universal Rotation Curve of Spiral Galaxies. II The Dark Matter Distribution out to the Virial Radius
• Dark Matter Search Results from the Complete Exposure of the PICO-60 C${}_3$F${}_8$ Bubble Chamber
• Final results of Borexino Phase-I on low energy solar neutrino spectroscopy
• First Results from the DarkSide-50 Dark Matter Experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
• DarkSide-50 532-day Dark Matter Search with Low-Radioactivity Argon
• Theory of Dark Matter Superfluidity
• Toward the discovery of matter creation with neutrinoless double-beta decay
• Experimental evidence of neutrinos produced in the CNO fusion cycle in the Sun
• Mirror World and its Cosmological Consequences
• Fog on the horizon: a new definition of the neutrino floor for direct dark matter searches
• Results from the first use of low radioactivity argon in a dark matter search
• A brief review on primordial black holes as dark matter
• The end of the MACHO era- revisited: new limits on MACHO masses from halo wide binaries
• Annual Modulation of Dark Matter in the Presence of Streams
• First results from the NEWS-G direct dark matter search experiment at the LSM
• Search for a Dark Matter-Induced Annual Modulation Signal in NaI(Tl) with the COSINE-100 Experiment
• Search for Low-Mass Dark Matter with CDMSlite Using a Profile Likelihood Fit
• Likelihood Analysis of the pMSSM11 in Light of LHC 13-TeV Data
• The SABRE project and the SABRE PoP
• An experiment to search for dark matter interactions using sodium iodide detectors
• Annual modulation results from three-year exposure of ANAIS-112
• Results on Low-Mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles from an 11 kg-day Target Exposure of DAMIC at SNOLAB
• First results from the DEAP-3600 dark matter search with argon at SNOLAB
• Quenching and Channeling of Nuclear Recoils in NaI[Tl]: Implications for Dark Matter Searches
• Gaia DR3: Apsis III -- Non-stellar content and source classification
• Search for Solar Axions Produced in $p(d,{}^3\mathrm{He})\mathrm{A}$ Reaction with Borexino Detector
• Breakdown of the Newton-Einstein Standard Gravity at Low Acceleration in Internal Dynamics of Wide Binary Stars
• Improved measurement of solar neutrinos from the Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen cycle by Borexino and its implications for the Standard Solar Model
• Strong constraints on the gravitational law from $Gaia$ DR3 wide binaries
• Modulations of the Cosmic Muon Signal in Ten Years of Borexino Data
• Solar neutrino detection in a large volume double-phase liquid argon experiment
• Testing dark matter and geometry sustained circular velocities in the Milky Way with Gaia DR2
• Final results of Borexino on CNO solar neutrinos
• Mirror Matter, Mirror Gravity and Galactic Rotational Curves
• Search for weakly interacting sub-eV particles with the OSQAR laser-based experiment: results and perspectives
• First search for the absorption of fermionic dark matter with the PandaX-4T experiment
• ArDM: first results from underground commissioning
• Constraining Non-Standard Interactions of the Neutrino with Borexino
• High-scale Supersymmetry, the Higgs Mass and Gauge Unification
• Annual modulations from secular variations: relaxing DAMA?
• The Quest for the Nature of the Dark Matter: The Need of a New Paradigm
• Direct dark matter searches with the full data set of XMASS-I
• Performance of the SABRE detector module in a purely passive shielding
• The Tully-Fisher's law and Dark Matter effects derived via modified symmetries
• Commissioning of the PADME experiment with a positron beam
• Why would you put a flashlight in a dark matter detector?

Cited by in corpus (22)

• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
• Probing the Solar System for Dark Matter Using the Sagnac Effect
• Non-minimally coupled electromagnetic fields and observable implications for primordial black holes
• A new dark matter direct search based on archaeological Pb
• Incoherent Fermionic Dark Matter Absorption with Nucleon Fermi Motion
• Purely gravitational dark matter production in warm inflation
• Supermassive black hole in NGC 4649 (M60) with a dark matter halo: Impact on shadow measurements and thermodynamic properties
• Relativistic structure of a supermassive black hole embedded in the dark matter halo of NGC 4649 (M60)
• Constraining Gluonic Contact Interaction of a Neutrino-philic Dark Fermion at Hadron Colliders and Direct Detection Experiments
• Up-type FCNC in presence of Dark Matter
• Game Theory in Cosmology
• State of the Art in Direct Dark Matter Detectors: Technologies, Performance, and Future Directions
• Dark matter heating of Planet 9, and its observational implications
• Dark Matter Deficient Galaxies as Probes of Dark Matter
• Primordial Black Holes: A Review of Formation and Evolution
• Future Dark Energy Constraints from Atomic Clocks
• Novel Solar System Probes for Primordial Black Holes
• Follow-up Search for a Tentative Dark Photon Signal Near 19.5 $\mu$eV using ORGAN-Q infrastructure
• Cosmological Implications of Thermodynamic Split Conjecture
• Thermodynamic Split Conjecture and an Observational Test for Cosmological Entropy
• Exploring the keV-scale physics potential of CUORE
• The Galactic Pizza: Flat Rotation Curves in the Context of Cosmological Time-Energy Coupling