A new investigation on neutralino dark matter: relic density and detection rates

The main properties of the neutralino dark matter are revisited in the light of the new theoretical developments in Susy theories and of the recent constraints from accelerators and underground experiments. The neutralino relic abundance and the detection rates relevant for direct and indirect searches are evaluated in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with the full inclusion of the (one-loop) radiative corrections, both to the Higgs masses and to the trilinear Higgs self-coupling. The relevance of these corrections for the neutralino-neutralino annihilation cross-section, and thus for the relic density, is discussed in detail. Large regions of the parameter space are considered, including those where the neutralino only provides a fraction of the local dark matter density; in these domains the standard value for the local density is appropriately scaled down. Some general properties of the detection rates as functions of the MSSM parameters are also elucidated; in particular it is shown that in the regions of the parameter space where scaling of the local density occurs, the rates are largely independent of two of the model free parameters. The relevance of the Kamiokande upper bounds to the upgoing muon fluxes is discussed in connection with the possible neutrino outputs from the Earth and from the Sun due to neutralino accumulation and annihilation in these macroscopic bodies. Finally, the complementarity between the search for neutralino dark matter and the discovery potential of future accelerators is discussed.