Final Report Summary - WIMPS KAIROS (The Moment of Truth for WIMP Dark Matter)
Identifying the mysterious Dark Matter that appears to permeate the Universe at all scales is a top priority in Particle Physics and Cosmology. What is it then? The WIMPs KAIROS project addressed the question of whether it is made of WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) which are the most studied dark matter candidates, and naturally arise from well motivated extensions of the standard model of particle physics. We have shown that the absence of signals in accelerator and astroparticle experiments searching for them, strongly constrains WIMPs models, and argued that unless this happens soon, we will inevitably witness the decline of the WIMP paradigm. We have also shown that if instead WIMPs are found, a combined analysis of all experimental data may lead to their identification as 'the' dark matter in the universe.