Talk:Weakly interacting massive particle: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:40, 18 December 2009

Revision as of 16:47, 18 December 2009

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==suggestions==

This article needs some attention from an expert. It focuses only on detection, and doesn't do an adequate job of discussing theoretical or observational reasons for expecting that WIMPs might exist. It talks about how to make patterns of mass distribution of galaxies fit observations by inserting cold dark matter in a simulation, but doesn't discuss, e.g., cosmic microwave background measurements, which, IIRC, rule out baryons as the main form of dark matter. The following sentence doesn't make sense: "Although predicted scattering rates for WIMPs from nuclei are significant for large detector target masses,prediction that halo WIMPs may, as they pass through the Sun, interact with solar protons and helium nuclei." There is no real discussion of their possible particle-theoretical properties. Are they assumed to be fermions? If so, why? Are they their own antiparticles? Are they expected to come in families? The article refers to supersymmetry. Do WIMPS exist generically in all supersymmetric models? What kind of bosons would their supersymmetic partners be?--[[Special:Contributions/76.93.42.50|76.93.42.50]] ([[User talk:76.93.42.50|talk]]) 03:45, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

::WIMPS could be either bosons or fermions. If they are fermions, then they would be expected to be superpartners of the [[Z Boson]], the [[photon]], or the neutral [[Higgs Boson]] (it's possible that the superpartners of those bosons may mix, forming superpositions, with the lightest one being a stable WIMP). If the [[graviton]] exists, then it would have a superpartner with spin 3/2, meaning that it could not mix with the previous three superpartners. The gravitino would probably interact only via [[gravity]] and so would be harder to observe than the other three.

::If WIMPS are bosons, then they could be superpartners of the three [[neutrinos]], with one superposition (the least massive one) being stable. [[User:Stonemason89|Stonemason89]] ([[User talk:Stonemason89|talk]]) 16:47, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

==Possible WIMP discovery==