On the trail of WIMPs: Direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle Dark Matter

The fundamental particle nature of the Dark Matter (DM) that constitutes more than 80% of the gravitating matter in the Universe is unknown. There is no suitable candidate for this DM in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. The so-called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), predicted in many scenarios of possible new physics beyond the SM, are currently one of the most favoured candidates of the DM. A number of experiments worldwide are trying to directly detect these WIMPs in underground laboratories. Here we discuss the basic ideas behind the WIMP hypothesis and brie-y discuss the latest results of such experiments and future prospects. © 2017, Indian Academy of Sciences.