Non-baryonic dark matter: observational evidence and detection methods

The evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe is reviewed. Ageneral picture emerges, where both baryonic and non-baryonic dark matter isneeded to explain current observations. In particular, a wealth ofobservational information points to the existence of a non-baryonic component,contributing between around 20 and 40 percent of the critical mass densityneeded to make the universe geometrically flat on large scales. In addition, aneven larger contribution from vacuum energy (or cosmological constant) isindicated by recent observations. To the theoretically favoured particlecandidates for non-baryonic dark matter belong axions, supersymmetricparticles, and of less importance, massive neutrinos. The theoreticalfoundation and experimental situation for each of these is reviewed. Direct andindirect methods for detection of supersymmetric dark matter are described insome detail. Present experiments are just reaching the required sensitivity todiscover or rule out some of these candidates, and major improvements areplanned over the coming years.

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