Mass density of neutralino dark matter

Abstract

The lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is stable in an R-parity conserving theory. In this article the steps needed to calculate the present day mass density of such a particle are detailed. It is shown that there can be a cosmologically significant amount of LSP dark matter in the universe. Furthermore, relic abundance considerations put an upper bound on how large supersymmetry breaking masses can be without resorting to finetuning arguments.

17 pages, latex with sprocl.sty, to appear in the book "Perspectives on Supersymmetry," World Scientific, editor G. Kane