Solving the Dark Matter Problem

 

 

Ted Baltz

 

 

Cosmological observations have firmly established that the majority of matter in the universe is of an unknown type, called "dark matter".  A compelling hypothesis is that the dark matter consists of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the mass range around 100 GeV. If the WIMP hypothesis is correct, such particles could be created and studied at accelerators.  Furthermore they could be directly detected as the primary component of our galaxy.  Solving the dark matter problem requires that the connection be made between the two.  We describe some theoretical and experimental avenues that might lead to this connection.