Recent precision cosmological measurements indicate that the density of our universe is critical within a few percent, and that its matter content, approximately one third of its total density, is mostly non baryonic. Supersymmetric particles represent the best motivated candidates to fill this gap, and are actively hunted by a number of competing experiments. Recent results, testing for the first time SUSY models compatible with accelerator constraints, are discussed and the evidence reported by the DAMA experiment for a WIMP with mass approximately 60 GeV is critically discussed. The sensitivities of direct and indirect detection techniques for both present experiments and future projects are compared. Finally, axion experiments, which are beginning to test the most popular axion models, are briefly reviewed. |
