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# Dissecting the luminosity function of the Coma cluster of galaxies by means of CFHT wide field images

## 1. Introduction

The luminosity function (LF hereafter), i.e. the number density of galaxies having a given luminosity, is critical to many observational and theoretical problems (see e.g. Binggeli, Sandage & Tammann 1988). From an observational point of view, the LF is the natural “weight” of all those quantities which need to be weighted against the relative number of objects in each luminosity bin. Furthermore, due to the role played by luminosity and surface brightness in the inclusion of objects in any observed sample (faint objects or low surface brightness galaxies are often excluded or under–represented), the knowledge of the LF and the LF bi–variate in brightness is fundamental to compute the selection function and is needed to derive the actual galaxy properties from the measured quantities (see, for example, the discussion on the field LF steepness by Sprayberry et al. 1997).

The LF buries under its foots the true problem (Sandage 1994): the LF is likely the sum of the LFs of the specific types, or of any other physically based galaxy classes. Galaxies can be classified on the bases of their central brightness, and in fact depending on their central brightness they lay in different parts of the Fundamental Plane (e.g. Bender, Burstein & Faber 1997), showing that this classification is not an aestheatical one but reflects some physical difference between the classes. Therefore, “it would be of great importance to know what the luminosity function looks like when divided into classes of surface brightness” (Kron 1994).

In the present paper we shortly present the LF bi–variate in surface brightness of a sample of galaxies in the Coma cluster of more than 4000 members and in three filters, down to the magnitude of three bright globular clusters, complete in surface brightness down to the brightness of the faintest cataloged LSB galaxies, spread up over the largest cluster area ever observed with CCDs. The interested reader may found details in Andreon & Cuillandre (2000).

## 2. The CFHT data

$`B`$, $`V`$ and $`R`$ Coma cluster observations have been taken during the CFH12K (Cuillandre et al. 2000, see also Cuillandre et al. in this proceeding) first light at the Canada–France–Hawaii telescope prime focus in photometric conditions. CFH12K, the third generation wide-field imager at CFHT, is a 12K $`\times `$ 8K backside-illuminated CCD mosaic camera, offering a field of view of 42 $`\times `$ 28 arcmin2 with a pixel size of 0.206 arcsec. A total of 12 mn were accumulated in each filter, split in four dithered 3 mn exposures to remove blemishes and cosmic rays and most importantly to fill the 6 arcseconds gaps between the CCDs. The data were reduced using standard CCD data reduction procedures (additive and multiplicative components, alignment and combination) implemented in a software specially optimized for fast processing of large CCD mosaics data at CFHT (FLIPS, Cuillandre 2001).

The control fields have been observed with the same telescope, with the same camera ($`B`$) during the same night, and using the UH8K ($`V`$ and $`R`$) in 1998. UH8K, a 8K $`\times `$ 8K frontside-illuminated CCD mosaic camera was the second generation wide-field imager at CFHT. The $`B`$ data is a deep (2 hours integration) empty field nearby the galaxy NGC 3486, a field standing at a similar galactic latitude as the Coma cluster. The $`V`$ and $`R`$ (3 hours and 2 hours resp. of integration) data are centered on the SA 57 field, also at a similar galactic latitude to Coma. The control fields were reduced in an indentical way as the Coma cluster data, and then the properties (noise and PSF) of these images are matched to those of Coma.

## 3. The bi–variate luminosity function

The bi–variate LF is computed as the statistical difference between counts in the Coma and control field directions, in order to remove the background contribution from counts in the Coma direction. Figure 1 shows the $`R`$ and $`V`$ bi–variate LF. This is the first so far accurately computed for any environment, to our best knowledge. Brightness bins are 1 mag arcsec-2 wide. The previous larger effort in this direction is presented in de Jong (1996), which study a sample of 86 field galaxies, while our sample includes $`3000`$ cluster member galaxies. Central brightness is the actual galaxy central brightness convolved with the seeing disk (whose FWHM correspond to $`1`$ kpc to the Coma cluster distance) and then measured in a 0.25 kpc aperture.

At all brightness bins, galaxies occupy a bounded range. Although a distribution with a finite width is expected, we can now quantify it for the first time. Galaxies of very large size or very flat surface brightness profile (i.e. near the left end of each bi–variate LF plot) are uncommon, with a relative frequency distribution presented in Figure 1.

At the bright end, galaxies more than 4 mag brighter than their central brightness are very uncommon. Bi–variate LFs are bounded at the faint end too, because any object can be fainter (and smaller) than an unresolved point source (star) of the same central (apparent) brightness. An arrow in the plots marks this magnitude. Seldom the point at the pointed magnitude, i.e. objects that are as compact as the seeing disk, is on the extrapolation of points at brighter magnitudes. The rarity of galaxies at the arrow magnitude, when compared to the expected location based on the trend at brighter magnitudes, is not due to the fact that compact galaxies are removed in the star/galaxy classification or implicitly supposed not to exist, because our derivation of the LF does not follow this path: at the difference of most previous works, we have not removed compact dwarfs in the star/galaxy classification or implicitly supposed that they do not exist. The found rarity of compact galaxies means that most of the galaxies at the Coma distance are extended sources at our resolution.

Lacking a field bi–variate LF, it is difficult to say whether the Coma cluster is effective in harassing LSB galaxies, as advocated by Moore et al. (1996; 1999) or the bi–variate LF is the same in the two environments and it tells us more on galaxy formation and evolution in general.

The comparison of Figure 1 panels shows that LSB dominate the LF at faint magnitudes, while high surface brightness (HSB) galaxies dominate the bright end. High surface brightness galaxies ($`\mu _0<20.0`$ mag arcsec-2) have a shallow LF ($`\alpha 1`$), while LSB galaxies have a steep and fainter LF. There is a clear trend for a steepening and weakening of the FL going from high surface brightness galaxies to faint and very faint central brightnesses.

From the comparison of the Coma LF at different wavelenghts, we found that faint Coma galaxies are red (Andreon & Cuillandre 2000; Andreon, Cuillandre & Pelló 2000). Faint galaxies are mostly of low surface brightness (LSB), and therefore in Coma faint galaxies are red and of LSB. In the field, LSB galaxies dominate the LF at faint magnitudes (Sprayberry et al. 1997) and are preferentially blue (de Blok et al. 95; van der Hoek et al. 2000). However, red LSB have been recently discovered in a survey targeting mainly two nearby clusters (O’Neil, Bothun & Cornell 1997), but the large majority are still blue. Therefore LSBs in Coma and in the field have quite different colors.

The existence of a large population of red LSB galaxies in the Coma cluster has a significant impact in the context of the Butcher–Oemler (1978, 1984) effect. It has been argued by Rakos & Schombert (1995), and then by many other authors later, that unobserved descendents of the large population of starbursting high redshift galaxies represent a problem for the Butcher–Oemler effect. LSB galaxies has been excluded as descendent because they have not the properties of failed galaxies, lacking, for example, the expected correlation between color and brightness for a fading population (Bothun, Impey & McGaugh 1997). However, the LSB galaxies disclaimed to be failed galaxies are blue and in the field while exhausted galaxies should be red and in cluster, as Coma LSB galaxies are. Therefore, we suggest a too premature dismiss of the LSB galaxies as a remnant of high redshift starburst galaxies. There is ample room among several thousand red LSBs in the Coma cluster for accounting for a few tens of faded remnants and therefore Coma could be, from this point of view, the descendent of clusters with high blue fractions. In this context, we are assuming that the Butcher–Oemler effect is still a measure of the galaxy evolution, even if it could be largely plagued by selection effects, as shown by Andreon & Ettori (1999).

Acknoledgements

The authors wish to thank P. Couturier, director of CFHT, for the allocation of discretionnary time for this program. The authors thank M. Crézé and A. Robin for sharing their UH8K SA 57 field data. S. A. warmly thanks the CFHT corporation for financial support to attend this conference.

## References

Andreon, S. & Cuillandre, J.C. 2000, ApJ, in press

Andreon, S., Cuillandre, J.C., Pelló, R. 2000, in the electronic proceeding of IAP2000 conference ”Constructing the Universe with Cluster of Galaxies” (astro-ph/0009431)

Andreon, S. & Ettori, S. 1999, ApJ, 516, 647

Bender, R., Burstein, D. & Faber, S. M. 1992, ApJ, 399, 462

Binggeli, B. , Sandage, A. & Tammann, G. A. 1988, ARA&A, 26, 509

Bothun, G., Impey, C. & McGaugh, S. 1997, PASP, 109, 745

Butcher, H. & Oemler, A. , Jr. 1978, ApJ, 219, 18

Butcher, H. & Oemler, A. , Jr. 1984, ApJ, 285, 426

Cuillandre, J.-C., Luppino, G., Starr, B. & Isani, S., 2000, SPIE, 4008, 1010

Cuillandre, J.-C., 2001, A&A, in preparation

de Blok, W. J. G., van der Hulst, J. M. & Bothun, G. D. 1995, MNRAS, 274, 235

de Jong, R. S. 1996, A&A, 313, 45

Impey, C. & Bothun, G. 1997, ARA&A, 35, 267

Kron R. 1994, in The Deep Universe, Springer, p. 257

Moore, B., Katz, N., Lake, G., Dressler, A. & Oemler, A. , Jr. 1996, Nature 379, 613

Moore, B., Lake, G., Stadel, J. & Quinn, T. 1999, ASP Conf. Ser. 170: The Low Surface Brightness Universe, 229

O’Neil, K., Bothun, G. D. & Cornell, M. E. 1997, AJ, 113, 1212

Rakos, K. D. & Schombert, J. M. 1995, ApJ, 439, 47

Sandage A. 1994, in The Deep Universe, Springer, p. 52

Sprayberry, D., Impey, C. D., Irwin, M. J. & Bothun, G. D. 1997, ApJ, 482, 104

van den Hoek, L.B., de Block W., van der Hulst J., de Jong T., 2000, A&A, in press


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# Reconstructing Supersymmetric Theories at the Linear Collider

## Introduction

If supersymmetry (SUSY) is realised in nature, one of the major goals of the linear collider (LC) will be to determine how this symmetry is broken ghodbole\_zerwas . This problem is equivalent to determining the structure of the theory at high energy scales where the mechanism of SUSY breaking influences directly the parameters of the theory. This report presents a model-independent approach where the SUSY parameters are reconstructed via extrapolations from the electroweak scale to the GUT scale, assuming the precision measurements that may be performed at a high luminosity e+e- LC ee\_params . More details are presented in Ref. our\_paper .

## The Bottom-Up Approach

A widely employed method to determine the fundamental SUSY parameters at the LHC lhc  and the LCmartyn  is to assume a SUSY breaking scenario and then fit to the corresponding experimentally determined low-energy particle spectrum. While this approach gives a useful indication of the SUSY measurement potential, the scenario assumptions are effectively constraints in the fit and so may give a false impression. This danger is particularly present for models with pseudo-fixed point structures, where the low-energy effective theories will be quite similar for a range of fundamental parameters. Additionally, nature may not be regular at the GUT scale or may possess new intermediate scales that are not immediately apparent from a top-down approach.

For these reasons a model-independent method is adopted where the structure of the theory is extrapolated via the renormalisation group equations (RGEs) from low-energy to high energy, with input to the RGEs from experimental measurement alone. In this bottom-up approach new intermediate scales may indeed become apparent, in which case the RGEs would need to adjusted accordingly. An example of such a case is the gauge mediated scenario that was addressed in Ref. our\_paper . The bottom-up approach manifests the quality of the reconstruction in a transparent form and stresses the need for high accuracy measurements, especially in those cases where universality at the GUT scale may be only slightly broken.

## The Models and Experimental Input

Presented here are two studies. Model A is minimal supergravitynilles  with parameters M$`_{\frac{1}{2}}`$=190 GeV, M0=200 GeV, A0=550 GeV, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$=30, sign($`\mu `$)=$``$. Model B is inspired by the gaugino-mediated scenario gaugino  with M$`_{\frac{1}{2}}`$=200 GeV, M0=5 GeV, A0=0 GeV, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$=2.5, M$`_{H_1}`$=300 GeV, M$`_{H_2}`$=200 GeV, sign($`\mu `$)=$``$. A gauge-mediated model is presented in Ref. our\_paper .

The experimental input to this study consists of particle masses and polarized production cross-sections. The analysis requires a total integrated luminosity of about 1 ab-1. For the particle mass precisions, threshold scans are assumed such as discussed in Ref. martyn . For the squarks and gluino, a generic precision of 10 GeV is assumed from the LHC lhc . Only statistical errors are included for the cross-sections and the polarisations are taken as 80% for e- and 60% for e+. For model A, where the large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ gives rise to multi-tau final states, we assume a reconstruction efficiency of 20% and inflate the errors on masses and cross-sections accordingly. For model B we assume a reconstruction efficiency of 80% and also allow for the fact that the sneutrinos happen to decay invisibly.

The results of the extrapolations of the gaugino and scalar soft breaking terms for model A, using LC and LHC data, are shown in Fig. 1. It is immediately clear that the high precision slepton measurements at the LC give excellent evidence for uniformity at the GUT scale. The corresponding results assuming generic LHC-only mass errors of 3 GeV for the non-coloured states are shown in Fig. 2. The effect of losing the complementary LC precision data is clear.

The corresponding LC+LHC extrapolations for model B are shown in Fig. 3 where the no-scale structure is apparent at the GUT-scale. Clearly this approach can distinguish between various scenarios, without any a priori model-dependent assumptions.

## Conclusion

The bottom-up approach is a model-independent method of extrapolating low-energy measurements to higher scales. It avoids any assumptions about high-energy structure and instead uses the experimental input alone to reconstruct the theory. Complementing the LHC data with high precision measurements from the LC will provide an excellent extrapolated view of physics at the GUT scale.

I would like to thank my collaborators, U. Martyn, W. Porod and P. M. Zerwas and gratefully to acknowledge support from the British Council and from DESY, where this work was carried out.


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# Isospin effects on rotational flow in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions

## Figure captions

The IQMD model predicted normalized azimuthal distribution $`dN/d\varphi `$ for all nucleons from 58Fe + 58Fe (solid circles) and 58Ni + 58Ni (open circles) at 40 MeV/nucleon and impact parameter $`b=6`$ fm for different rapidity regions, i.e., the target-like rapidity region (a), mid-rapidity region (b) and projectile-like rapidity region (c). The solid (dashed) line represents the Legendre polynomial fit up to second order for the calculated result of 58Fe + 58Fe (58Ni + 58Ni).

The values of $`a_2`$ for mid-rapidity nucleons as a function of impact parameter $`b`$ for 58Fe + 58Fe (solid circles) and 58Ni + 58Ni (open circles) at 40 MeV/nucleon. The lines are plotted to guide the eye.

The time evolution of the absolute value of angular momentum per nucleon $`\left|L_y/A\right|`$ (a), moment of inertia per nucleon $`I_y/A`$ (b), absolute value of angular velocity $`\left|\omega _y\right|`$ (c), and rotational energy per nucleon $`E_{rot}/A`$ (d) from 58Fe + 58Fe (solid circles) and 58Ni + 58Ni (open circles) at 40 MeV/nucleon and $`b=4`$ fm for mid-rapidity nucleons. Also included in (a) are the time evolution of the absolute value of angular momentum per nucleon for the whole system of reactions 58Fe+58Fe (solid squares) and 58Ni+58Ni (open squares) and its amplified window figure.

The IQMD model predicted azimuthal distribution for 58Fe \+ 58Fe (solid circles) and 58Ni + 58Ni (open circles) at 40 MeV/nucleon and $`b=4`$ fm for mid-rapidity nucleons by using different symmetry energy strength $`C`$ and parametrizations of N-N cross sections: $`C=0`$ (no symmetry energy) with Cugnon’s N-N cross section $`\sigma _{\text{Cug}}`$ (a), $`C=32`$ (MeV) with $`\sigma _{\text{Cug}}`$ (b), and $`C=32`$ (MeV) with experimental N-N cross section $`\sigma _{\text{exp}}`$ (c). Meanwhile, the results of Legendre polynomial fits according to Eq. (2) for 58Fe + 58Fe (solid line) and 58Ni + 58Ni (dashed line) as well as the resulting $`a_1`$ and $`a_2`$ are also included.


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# BeppoSAX observation of Hercules A and MRC 0625-536

## 1 Introduction

The two sources Hercules A (3C 348) and MRC 0625-536 are radio galaxies classified as Fanaroff-Riley I (FR I) type objects, although Hercules A has indeed the morphology of a FR I radio galaxy, but with a much higher radio luminosity, typical of a FR II object. The galaxy associated with MRC 0625-536 is the main member of the cluster A 3391, while Hercules A lies in a group.

Recent spectral and morphological analyses of X-ray data, collected by ROSAT and ASCA (Otani et al. 1998, Siebert et al. 1999, Gliozzi et al. 2000), have provided information on the physical and dynamical properties of the environment surrounding these objects and of their active nuclei. Both radio galaxies are embedded in diffuse clouds of X-ray emitting hot plasma of size larger than the extended, radio emitting, regions. The active nucleus may also contribute to the X-ray flux, as observed in several FR I radio galaxies, and this emission is likely related to the inner region of the relativistic jet (Worrall & Birkinshaw 1994, Trussoni et al. 1999, Hardcastle & Worrall 1999).

In this paper we present BeppoSAX observations of Hercules A and MRC 0625-536. This analysis provides new information on the structure of these radio galaxies and their associated clusters. In fact, the instrumentation on board of BeppoSAX allows us to collect data, during the same pointing, that range from the soft band up to $`200`$ keV. We will also examine the variation of the spectral parameters of the X-ray emission across the clusters, relying upon the smoother (with respect to the ASCA detectors) radial behavior of the Point Spread Function of the BeppoSAX MECS detectors.

In Section 2 we summarize the known properties of the two sources, in Section 3 we outline the details of the observations and of the data analysis while in Section 4 we report the results of the spectroscopic analysis. Their implications on the structure of the two sources are discussed in detail in Section 5, taking into account also previous observations, and in Section 6 we summarize our results. A value of $`H_0=50`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 is assumed throughout.

## 2 The sources

We list in Table 1 the main properties of Hercules A and MRC 0625-536 and recall in the following the available literature.

### 2.1 Hercules A (3C 348)

This source is a giant cD elliptical (Spinrad et al. 1985, Zirbel 1997) embedded in an environment that Zirbel (1997) has classified as a group of the first Bautz-Morgan class, with Hercules A as the main member. At radio frequencies, 3C 348 shows two large and symmetric lobes connected by twin jets and without the presence of any hot spot (Dreher & Feigelson 1984). The radio emission originates in the extended lobes mainly, with a weak contribution of a compact core (S$`_{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.8}\mathrm{GHz}}`$ = 10 mJy, corresponding to $`<0.1\%`$ of the total emission, Morganti et al. 1993). Polarization maps show a strong asymmetry in the fractional polarization, with the most prominent jet lying in the more strongly polarized lobe (Harvanek & Hardcastle 1998, Gizani & Leahy 1999). This fact can be interpreted as due to the Laing-Garrington effect (Laing 1988, Garrington et al. 1988) and is consistent with the existence of a cluster/group environment around the source.

The X-ray properties of 3C 348, derived by ROSAT and ASCA observations, are discussed by Siebert et al. (1999). The flux detected by ASCA is fit to a thermal model with temperature $`T4.6`$ keV and metallicity $`\mu 0.38`$ (with respect to the standard cosmic values). The presence of an additional non thermal component, with a flat slope (photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.7`$), is also consistent with the data. The ROSAT/PSPC data are consistent with a plasma emitting at temperature $`T2.4`$ keV, suggesting that a two temperature gas may be present around Hercules A, without any significant temperature gradient up to an outer radius of 3. The total luminosity in the energy band 0.1 - 2.4 keV turns out to be $`4.4\times 10^{44}`$ erg s-1.

The brightness profile obtained by the ROSAT/HRI data analysis is consistent with a $`\beta `$-model with $`r_c35^{\prime \prime }`$ ($`120`$ kpc) and $`\beta 0.63`$, with the diffuse emission extending up to $`3^{}`$ from the center. A point-like structure, coincident with the nucleus of the galaxy, is detected as well and contributes for a fraction of $`8\%`$ to the total emission. The luminosity in the soft X-ray band (0.1 - 2.4 keV) results in $`3.4\times 10^{43}`$ erg s-1 for the nucleus (assuming a power law spectrum with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.7`$).

### 2.2  MRC 0625-536

This radio source is associated with the eastern component of a pair of galaxies (also classified as a dumbbell galaxy) and is the brightest member at the center of the cluster A 3391. The radio morphology shows a wide-angle tail structure (Morganti et al. 1999, and references therein), with a compact core of flux S$`_{\mathrm{c},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.8}\mathrm{GHz}}`$ = 42 mJy, which contributes only $`2\%`$ to the total emission.

X-ray studies are presented by Otani et al. (1998) and by Gliozzi et al. (1999). The ASCA and ROSAT/PSPC data are consistent with a thermal spectrum with $`T66.5`$ keV and $`\mu 0.35`$. The PSPC observations also show that the flux from the innermost $`2^{}`$ is consistent with a power law spectrum.

The region of X-ray emission is extended (radius of $`15^{}`$) and, from ROSAT/HRI data, its brightness profile is fit to a $`\beta `$-model with core radius $`2.5^{}`$ ($`220`$ kpc) and $`\beta 0.56`$, typical of a cluster. The central nucleus can contribute to the flux only up to $`3\%`$, with a luminosity (0.1 - 2.4 keV) of $`4.1\times 10^{42}`$ erg s-1 (power law with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.67`$), while the luminosity of the extended region is $`1.5\times 10^{44}`$ erg s-1.

## 3 The observations and data analysis

The BeppoSAX observation plan, covering the energy range 0.2 - 200 keV, is reported in Table 2 (for details on the BeppoSAX instrumentation see Boella et al. 1997). The event files of the three MECS and of the LECS have been processed with the packages FTOOLS 4.2 and SAXDAS 2.0.2. The adopted matrices for the instrument response and the effective areas were released in September 97. The spectral analysis has been performed with the XSPEC package (ver. 9.0) rebinning the counts in order to have at least 20 events in each energy channel. For the thermal fits the MEKAL model for an optically thin plasma has been employed. We have adopted the HI measurements, reported in Dickey & Lockman (1990), for the values of the galactic column density ($`N_{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{gal}}`$) used in the spectral fits. The errors for the parameters are at 68% of uncertainty (1$`\sigma `$). The background, extracted from the public BeppoSAX archive, consists of different merged exposures of blank fields with the same extent as the source. We have limited the spectral fits to the energy ranges 0.2 - 4 keV for the LECS, and 1.5 - 9.5 keV for the MECS.

The analysis of extended sources requires the correction of the Point Spread Function (PSF) for the vignetting effects. This correction can be performed for the MECS observations through the command effarea of the SAXDAS package that provides the suitable auxiliary response matrices (Molendi 1998, D’Acri et al. 1998). This command requires an ‘a priori’ estimate of the radial distribution of the counts: we have generated the corrected matrices using the brightness profile derived from the HRI observations (see Section 2). The photons have been extracted, for both sources, from a region with radius of $`8^{}`$: this choice is satisfactory for Hercules A, while it includes only the central region of the more extended MRC 0625-536. In order to analyze the spectral properties of different regions of the diffuse emission, we have also carried out spectral fits to photons extracted from the inner region (radius $`2^{}`$) and external concentric annuli, with size dependent on the count statistics.

At present, no analogous procedure exists for processing the data of LECS observations of extended sources. To reduce the vignetting effects in this case, we have extracted the photons from a smaller region (radius of $`6^{}`$), even though the PSF of the LECS is wider than that of the MECS. Considering this limitation, we have not carried out simultaneous fits of the spectra of the two instruments. The LECS data at softer energies have therefore been considered as a consistency test of the MECS results and for comparison with the previous ROSAT observations.

The background subtracted spectra of the PDS have been extracted from the public BeppoSAX archive. For the positive detection of MRC 0625-536, and in order to have a significant statistics for a useful analysis, the counts have been rebinned to 4 energy channel bins in the energy range 15 - 200 keV.

## 4 Results

### 4.1 Hercules A

The results of the spectral analysis are given in Table 3. The spectrum obtained from the whole emitting region and detected in the MECS, with the column density fixed to its galactic value ($`N_{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{gal}}=6.3\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2), is consistent with thermal emission (see Fig. 1). The fit yields a temperature $`T4.25.4`$ keV and metallicity $`\mu 0.20.5`$. The resulting unabsorbed flux (2 - 10 keV) is $`f=3.5\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, corresponding to a luminosity of $`4.3\times 10^{44}`$ erg s-1, and of $`4.7\times 10^{44}`$ erg s-1 in the ROSAT energy band (0.1 - 2.4 keV).

We have then divided the whole region in concentric annuli extending up to $`8^{}`$ (Table 3). We have obtained from the thermal fits $`T45`$ keV and $`\mu 0.50.6`$. These values are all consistent, within 1$`\sigma `$ fluctuations, with emission from a homogeneous and isothermal gas (see Table 3). In the external zone $`4^{}8^{}`$, we were only able to derive the flux, after setting $`T=5`$ keV and $`\mu =0.4`$, since only $`15\%`$ of the total counts are emitted in this outer region. We thus conclude that the present data do not show any significant variation of the spectral parameters across the intragroup plasma.

Some contribution to the flux emitted from the central region (of $`2^{}`$ radius, $`700`$ photons) originates from the galactic nucleus. This emission is quite low: from the parameters derived for the power law emission from ASCA and ROSAT ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.7`$, $`f=3.3\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1) we expect in the MECS a count rate about ten times lower than the thermal component. Consistently a single power law spectrum does not fit with the emission from this region ($`\chi ^21.5`$). Performing a fit with a composite model (thermal + power law) by fixing $`T=4`$ keV, $`\mu =0.4`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.7`$ we found for the non thermal emission an upper limit $`2.5`$ times larger than the luminosity detected in Siebert et al. (1999). This confirms that no strong X-ray variability occurred in the nucleus of Hercules A between the observations of August 1993 (ROSAT/PSPC), August/September 1996 (ROSAT/HRI), March 1997 (BeppoSAX) and August 1998 (ASCA).

The flux in the LECS was fitted to a thermal spectrum without a satisfactory estimate of the parameters, the column density only could be constrained yielding $`N_\mathrm{H}=6.75_{2.3}^{+3.3}\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 ($`\chi ^2=1.13`$, 15 d.o.f.), in agreement with the galactic hydrogen column density. Thus setting $`N_\mathrm{H}=N_{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{gal}}`$ and $`\mu =0.4`$ we derived $`A_{th}=4.60_{0.32}^{+0.31}`$ cm-5 and a temperature $`T=3.12_{0.49}^{+0.70}`$ keV, with an upper limit (at $`2\sigma `$ level) $`T4.45`$ keV ($`\chi ^2=1.01`$). Apparently the temperature in this softer band results lower.

The lack of any detected flux in the PDS is in agreement with the extrapolation of the thermal (from the cluster) and non thermal (from the core) spectra to the 15 - 200 keV energy band. We expect in the energy range of the PDS a flux from the cluster of $`10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 and from the non thermal component (allowing some amount of local absorption, as discussed below) $`2\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1. Both these fluxes are well below the detection threshold of the PDS.

The value of the temperature obtained in the MECS is in excellent agreement with the ASCA observation, while the lower value deduced from the LECS data seems to confirm the PSPC results. Concerning the non thermal nuclear emission, the comparison of the flux detected in the HRI with the upper limit found in the MECS implies also an upper limit for the local column density: $`<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}4}\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 ($`90\%`$ of confidence). Then the obscuration of the core by an edge-on projected disk is not relevant. This is also consistent with the very high luminosity detected by the HRI in the soft band, higher by a factor $`10`$ than expected from the correlation between the radio and X-ray core luminosities in FR I radio galaxies (and $`3`$ times larger than its $`90\%`$ upper confidence limit; Canosa et al. 1999, Hardcastle & Worrall 1999).

We will discuss these points further in Section 5.1.

### 4.2 MRC 0625-536

The flux detected in the MECS in the whole region ($`8^{}`$ in radius) is fit to a thermal emission model with $`T5.7`$ keV and $`\mu 0.3`$, assuming $`N_\mathrm{H}N_{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{gal}}=5.4\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 (see Fig. 2). The total unabsorbed flux is $`f=1.7\times 10^{11}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, with luminosity of $`2.2\times 10^{44}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, in both the 2 - 10 keV and 0.1 - 2.4 keV bands.

After selecting four concentric circular regions with spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }r=2^{}`$ we carried out fits to the emitted fluxes deriving values of the temperature and metallicity basically consistent with the ‘average’ values obtained analyzing the whole cluster region (see Table 4 and Fig. 3). We obtain a similar value for the temperature $`T`$ setting $`\mu =0.33`$ in the fit. In the innermost region we can notice an increase in temperature and a decrease in metallicity, that may be a signature of non thermal emission from the active nucleus.

To test this point further, we have verified that the central flux also fit a power law model with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.84_{0.08}^{+0.08}`$ ($`\chi ^2=0.77`$). The total number of photons from this zone ($`900`$) does not allow a complete analysis with a composite spectrum. Setting $`T=5.7`$ keV, $`\mu =0.33`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.7`$ we obtain acceptable fits ($`\chi ^2=0.72`$) with fluxes of the two components (2 - 10 keV, with large errors; see Table 4) $`f_{\mathrm{th}}2.5\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 and $`f_{\mathrm{pl}}2.0\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, respectively. This corresponds to a nuclear luminosity of $`L_{\mathrm{pl}}2.6\times 10^{43}`$ erg s-1 (a similar value of $`L_{\mathrm{pl}}`$ is obtained in the softer band 0.1 - 2.4 keV).

Little useful information can be obtained from the LECS observation: setting $`\mu =0.33`$ we derive $`T=5.09_{1.76}^{+5.60}`$ keV and $`N_\mathrm{H}=1.71_{0.74}^{+0.95}\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 ($`\chi ^2=1.09`$, 12 d.o.f.). This value is larger than the galactic column density by a factor $`23`$, however its lower limit (at 2$`\sigma `$ level), $`5.5\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, is coincident with $`N_{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{gal}}`$.

The flux detected in the high energy band by the PDS (at $`3\sigma `$ level) is well above the extrapolated thermal emission from the cluster and from the active nucleus, assuming the parameters derived from the MECS observation. In fact, the fluxes expected in the 15 - 200 keV energy range are $`1.1\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 and $`2.0\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, respectively, below the detection capability of the PDS (see Fig. 2).

The values of the temperature and metallicity obtained by the BeppoSAX observations are fully consistent with those of ASCA and PSPC (Otani et al. 1998) within $`1\sigma `$ statistical fluctuations. The total luminosity from the cluster in the 2 - 10 keV range is $`90\%`$ lower than derived from ASCA consistently with the slightly smaller region of photon extraction assumed for the MECS.

The nuclear luminosity derived from the HRI observation (Gliozzi et al. 1999) exceeds by a factor $`3`$ the one predicted by the correlation of Canosa et al. (1999), but is still within 90% of uncertainty. This would suggest the absence of heavy local absorption in the nucleus of this radio galaxy. However, the MECS data indicate a much higher luminosity (by a factor $``$ 6) with respect to HRI, but, due to the large statistical fluctuations, the lower limit of the luminosity in the MECS is $``$ three times the one in the HRI. Assuming no variability, this discrepancy could be ascribed to a local column density of $`5\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 surrounding the core. This point will be discussed further in the next Section, considering also the results of the PDS observation.

## 5 Discussion

We outline the main implications of the BeppoSAX observations considering also previous observations from other satellites.

### 5.1 Hercules A

Our results confirm the discrepant value of the temperature of the thermal diffuse emission obtained from the ASCA and ROSAT observations and support the possibility that a two temperature plasma is present in Hercules A. However, since both MECS and PSPC data are consistent with emission from an isothermal medium, it is difficult to gain some insights about the origin of these two thermal components. Unfortunately it is not possible to merge the LECS and MECS data to perform a spectral fit with a two temperature model (see Section 3).

Some clues for the interpretation of this phenomenology may be provided by the HRI image (Siebert et al. 1999), that shows peculiar morphologies, unrelated to the extended thermal gas and suggested to originate from the interaction of the expanding radio lobes with the hot medium. We can then argue that this processed gas has physical conditions far from those of a plasma in ionization equilibrium. On the other hand, the extent of this irregular structure is smaller but comparable with the size of the diffuse region modeled with a $`\beta `$ profile ($`2^{}`$, see Fig. 4 of Siebert et al. 1999 ), such that the imaging capability of the MECS does not allow to spatially disentangle these different regions.

It is worth noticing that the luminosity and temperature of the thermal plasma detected in Hercules A are consistent with the correlation found for the galaxy clusters (Wu et al. 1999). Therefore, the X-ray properties of this object are typical of rich clusters, despite the fact that Hercules A has been associated with a group of galaxies, which would be expected to show a lower temperature and luminosity (Zirbel 1997, Ponman et al. 1996).

The MECS data confirm also that only a small fraction of emission from the central region can originate from the core, that however it is very bright when compared with similar objects. It turns out that in fact that the X-ray luminosity of the nucleus of Hercules A is typical of that of FR II narrow lines radio galaxies ($`4\times 10^{17}`$ W Hz-1 sr-1, see Fig. 6 in Hardcastle & Worrall 1999). This may mean that extra contributions to the core emission could come from other components, e.g. from an thick accretion disk (we cannot exclude also that the inner nucleus is actually obscured by the torus and the non thermal X-ray emission originate from the jet on much larger scales). On the other hand, the optical and radio core luminosities are consistent with the properties of FR I radio galaxies where obscuration does not play a relevant role and no thick accretion disks appear to be present (Chiaberge et al. 1999). However the above argument implies that in this radio galaxy the low value of the core radio luminosity, with respect to the total one, may not be a reliable indicator of local absorption in the nucleus.

In conclusion, Hercules A appears very peculiar at X-ray energies on large and small scales: observations from the new generation telescopes (Chandra) will provide new insights on this interesting object.

### 5.2 MRC 0625-536

The MECS data confirm the spectral properties obtained by the previous observations with ASCA and ROSAT. The values of the temperature and metallicity are typical for a cluster, and the luminosity is again consistent with the $`L_\mathrm{X}`$-$`T`$ correlation (Wu et al. 1999). The lack of any variation of the temperature across the region of emission confirms that this cluster has very likely undergone a merging process (see also Otani et al. 1998).

The detection of hard X-ray flux in the PDS, even though weak, may have important implications on the interpretation of this radio galaxy. X-ray emission above 20 keV is commonly observed in Seyfert galaxies (see e.g. Matt 1998). Among clusters, hard X-ray emission has been found so far only in Coma and A 2256 with good significance, and in A 2199 with marginal significance (Fusco-Femiano et al. 1999, 2000, Kaastra et al. 1999)

As stated in Sect. 4.2, the high energy emission cannot be the extrapolation of the thermal emission from the intracluster plasma, detected from the MECS. Should this emission originate from a hotter thermal component, the fit to the PDS data would require a temperature $`T80`$ keV. We can reasonably exclude the presence in this cluster of a plasma with these extreme physical conditions.

For investigating the origin of the hard emission, we have first looked for possible contamination by a different source in the PDS field of view. The nearby cluster A 3395 falls within the PDS field of view, but its thermal emission could not increase the flux by more than a factor $`2`$ (Henriksen & Jones 1996). A BL-Lac object, MS 0622.5-5256, is present in the PDS field, at the position RA2000 = 06h 23m 39.1s, DEC2000 = -52 57 49′′, i.e. at about 49 from the field center. The flux of this source in the 0.3 - 3.5 keV energy band is $`3.7\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, estimated assuming a power-law spectrum with a photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$=2 (Stocke et al. 1991). Extrapolating this flux to the PDS energy band, and correcting for the attenuation due to the distance of the BL-Lac from the field center, it turns out that it is about 100 times lower than the flux detected in the PDS and therefore cannot be responsible for it, unless an unusually strong variability in the flux of the BL-Lac object has occurred.

Thus, it seems reasonable to consider that the PDS flux is of non-thermal origin, and actually originating from the target itself. We consider in the following three main possibilities : 1) it is related to the nucleus of the radio galaxy MRC 0625-536; 2) it is related to the radio lobes of MRC 0625-536; 3) it is associated to the cluster A 3391.

1) In this case, the hard X-ray emission would originate from the core of radio galaxy MRC 0625-536. A similar case is represented by the radio galaxy NGC 1275 (3C 84), in the Perseus cluster, where hard non thermal emission has been detected by OSO7 (Rothschild et al. 1981). BeppoSAX observations have confirmed the existence of X-ray emission at energies exceeding 20 keV, with flux of $`4\times 10^{11}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 in the 20 - 100 keV band (Molendi 1998). According to the MECS analysis and to the results of previous observations, the emission from the core of MRC 0625-536 is not detectable in the PDS energy range. One might, however, speculate on the existence of a component with a much flatter spectral index: for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.2`$ one would derive a (15 - 200 keV) flux of $`7.2\pm 4.6\times 10^{11}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, corresponding to a luminosity of $`9.0\times 10^{44}`$ erg s-1. Fitting the MECS flux from the central region (radius $`2^{}`$) to a composite spectrum with the same parameters as in Table 3 for the thermal component, and with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.2`$ for the power law spectrum, one obtains for the latter a flux $`1.3_{0.9}^{+0.7}\times 10^{11}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 in the 15 - 200 keV band, $`5`$ times less than detected in the PDS. However, considering the large statistical fluctuations, the difference between the upper limit of the MECS flux and the lower limit of the PDS flux (90% of confidence) reduces to a factor $`1.3`$. A larger discrepancy is found with the HRI data on the nuclear emission, that is $``$ 3 times less than the lower limit of the PDS flux. This difference disappears if some amount of obscuration is present with $`N_\mathrm{H}56\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2, as deduced in Section 4.2. In this case the intrinsic core luminosity in the soft band would increase by a factor $`2`$.

This interpretation has two major difficulties. First, the nucleus would result, in the X-ray band, overluminous with respect to its radio power (see Sec. 4.2). The second problem is the extreme flatness of the spectrum. In blazars, where the hard X-ray emission is related to the inverse Compton process in the relativistic jet, it is generally found that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }>1.5`$ for luminosities $`10^{4445}`$ erg s-1 (and steeper spectra in the $`\gamma `$ energy band; see Fossati et al. 1998). It has been alternatively proposed that advection dominated disks (ADAF) could contribute to the X-ray core emission of low power radio galaxies (Sambruna et al. 1999), with a very flat spectral emission (see e.g. Allen et al. 2000), but with a luminosity much lower (a factor $`<0.01`$) than appropriate for our target.

2) The hard X-ray emission might be produced by Inverse Compton scattering of relativistic electrons within the radio lobes with the photons of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), as detected in a few radio galaxies (e.g., Feigelson et al. 1995, Tsakiris et al. 1996). A non-thermal power law model with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 2, gives for the present source a flux $``$ 4 $`\times `$ 10-11 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 15-200 keV band. Using the total radio flux at 4.8 GHz of 1.85 Jy (Morganti et al. 1993) and the radio spectral index $``$1 (Otani et al. 1998), the detected X-ray flux would imply a magnetic field of about 0.25 $`\mu `$G, i.e. more than an order of magnitude lower than the equipartition value derived from the data published by Otani et al. (1998). With this low magnetic field, the relativistic electrons emitting in the radio domain up to 8.87 GHz (frequency to which the radio spectrum extends, Otani et al. 1998) would have very high energy, largely sufficient to account for the 15-200 keV Inverse Compton emission. Although there is no firm evidence in the literature that radio sources should be in equipartition conditions, there is also no evidence of such large deviations from it. Therefore, this interpretation seems unlikely.

3) Non thermal X-ray emission from the cluster A 3391 would be expected if relativistic electrons present in the intergalactic medium undergo Inverse Compton scattering with the photons of the CMB. This kind of emission has been detected by BeppoSAX in the two clusters Coma (Fusco-Femiano et al. 1999) and A 2256 (Fusco-Femiano et al. 2000), where the presence of ultra-relativistic electrons in the intracluster medium is directly demonstrated by the existence of diffuse radio halos. Conversely, no diffuse radio emission is detected in the cluster A 3391, so the presence of ultra-relativistic electrons in the intergalactic medium remains questionable. In any event, if the hard X-ray emission is of Inverse Compton origin, the magnetic field must be very weak in order to avoid producing an observable radio halo. A similar conclusion is reached for the cluster A 2199, where a marginal detection of hard X-rays above the expected thermal emission is reported by Kaastra et al. (1999), and no diffuse radio halo is observed. For the cluster A 2199, Kempner & Sarazin (1999) suggest the alternative possibility that the X-ray emission above 20 keV could be due to non thermal bremsstrahlung by a population of suprathermal electrons. The same interpretation might apply to the present case.

We conclude that, even though reasonable, none of the possibilities that we have analyzed for the interpretation of the PDS emission is fully convincing. More data would be needed to clarify this issue.

## 6 Summary

We summarize the main results obtained from the BeppoSAX observations and their implications on the properties of these two radio galaxies and their environment.

Hercules A. No relevant variation of temperature and metallicity occurs between the inner and outer regions of the cluster. However a plasma with two different temperatures seems to be present, perhaps related to the interaction of the radio components with intracluster gas. It must be borne in mind anyway that the structure of this object is quite peculiar: at optical wavelengths it is classified as a group but its X-ray properties are typical of clusters.

The non thermal emission from the active nucleus appears unabsorbed, as expected for this class of radio galaxies, but brighter than expected by its core radio emission. This could be related to the peculiar nature of Hercules A that shows properties of both FR I and FR II radio galaxies.

MRC 0625-36. The X-ray luminosity and the values of $`T`$ and $`\mu `$ are consistent with those expected for this kind of clusters. The lack of strong variation of the temperature and metallicity across the emitting region suggests that no cooling flow is present, while it could be related to a recent merging process. The nuclear non thermal emission detected in the MECS and in previous missions is consistent with that expected from radio data, without excluding however some amount of local obscuration.

Concerning finally the high energy flux detected in the PDS, it seems unlikely that it is related to the cluster or to the radio lobes. On the other hand, a nuclear origin for this emission would imply a luminosity of some units of $`10^{44}`$ erg s-1 in the hard band. Either this emission is completely independent of the flux detected at lower energies, or, to fit the ROSAT, ASCA and BeppoSAX (MECS) data, it must have an very flat spectrum.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors thank M. Capalbi, F. Fiore and S. Molendi for their suggestions in the treatment of the MECS observations of extended sources, and G. Brunetti, R. Fanti, M. Hardcastle, R. Morganti, P. Padovani and F. Vagnetti for discussions and comments on the manuscript. We warmly acknowledge the late Daniele Dal Fiume, for his invaluable help in the treatment of the PDS data. This work was partially supported by the Italian Ministry for University and Research (MURST), under grant Cofin98-02-32, and by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).


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# Update of the direct detection of dark matter and the role of the nuclear spin

## I Introduction

It is well known (see, for example, ) that the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) being the most promising extension of the Standard Model offers a solution of the hierarchy problem, possesses gauge coupling unification and naturally proposes a Dark Matter candidate — the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). In the framework of the low-energy supersymmetry (SUSY), when SUSY breaking masses lie below a few TeV, sparticles will be copiously produced (and detected) at future colliders like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. On the other hand, there are several on-going and future projects searching for the LSP as a Dark Matter particle. One of them even claims a positive signal , although the situation remains rather contradictory . The present experimental upper limit on the spin-independent part of the elastic scattering of the LSP on a nucleon is around $`10^5`$ pb for $`50\mathrm{GeV}<m_\chi <100`$ GeV. In any case, it seems very plausible that both, SUSY collider signals and LSP Dark Matter will be found in future. Such dark matter searches offer interesting prospects for beating accelerators in the discovery of SUSY, particularly during the coming years before the LHC enters operation . In this situation naturally arised the question of how small the event rate of the LSP direct detection can be, provided the LSP is a cold dark matter particle. Searching for the answer different SUSY models were considered (see for example, ).

Recently exciting evidence for a flat and accelerating universe was obtained . The position of the first acoustic peak of the angular power spectrum strongly suggests a flat universe with density parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=1`$ while the shape of the peak is consistent with the density perturbations predicted by models of inflation. The density parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=\rho _0/\rho _c`$ is the ratio of the current mass density $`\rho _0`$ to the critical density $`\rho _c=1.8810^{29}h_0^2`$g$``$cm-3, with $`h_0`$ being the dimensionless Hubble parameter. Data support the straight line $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=\mathrm{\Omega }_M+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=1`$ , where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ is the matter density in the universe and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the contribution of the non-zero cosmological constant (the energy density of the vacuum). At the same time one determines $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.4\pm 0.1`$, which implies $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.85\pm 0.2`$, a value that has been supported from high-redshifted Supernova data . Since the baryonic matter density is small, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_B=0.05\pm 0.005`$, the values for matter density $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ give a Cold Dark Matter (CDM) density $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{CDM}}0.35\pm 0.1`$, which combined with recent measurements of the Hubble parameter $`h_0=0.65\pm 0.05`$, result in smaller CDM relic densities $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{CDM}}h_{0}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}0.15\pm 0.07`$ .

Previously we have restricted our analyses to the cosmological constraint for the relic density of the LSP in the range $`0.025<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<1`$ , where the neutralino relic density parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi =\rho _\chi /\rho _c`$ and $`\rho _\chi `$ is the relic neutralino mass density. In this paper adopting the above-mentioned new cosmological data and going to compare our estimation with literature  we constrain the allowed region for the neutralino relic density in the form $`0.1<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<0.3`$. It is possible that there is more than one component in the cold dark matter, so that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi <\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{CDM}}`$, and therefore $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi <0.1`$. Although, in general, a decrease of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is associated with larger elastic scattering cross sections, the detection rate also must be reduced because of the corresponding reduction in the density of LSPs in the Galactic halo. Here we neglect this possibility and assume that all the cold dark matter is composed of LSPs, so that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi 0.1`$ .

There are two main approaches to evaluate the dark-matter-neutralino nucleon cross section and the expected event rate in a detector. The basis of the first approach is the minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) model . This model assumes the minimal supersymmetric standard model to be valid at all energy scales from $`M_{\mathrm{weak}}`$ up to $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}2\times 10^{16}`$GeV. The mSUGRA model arises as the low-energy limit of a supergravity theory, where supersymmetry is broken in the hidden sector of the model at an energy scale of $`M10^{10}`$ GeV. Supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the observable sector via gravitational interactions, leading to soft SUSY breaking mass terms of the order of the electroweak scale. At the GUT scale this leads to a common mass for all scalars $`m_0`$ and a common trilinear coupling $`A_0`$. Motivated by the apparent unification of gauge coupling constants, it is also assumed that all gaugino masses are unified to $`m_{1/2}`$ at $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$. The weak scale sparticle spectrum is derived from renormalization group running of the SUSY soft breaking parameters. Requiring radiative electroweak symmetry breaking allows the determination of the superpotential Higgsino mass squared $`\mu ^2`$, and allows the expression of the soft SUSY breaking bilinear term $`B`$ in terms of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. Thus, all sparticle masses and couplings are derived in terms of the minimal parameter set $`m_0,m_{1/2},A_0,\mathrm{tan}\beta ,\mathrm{and}\mathrm{sign}(\mu )`$ . From a practical point of view this approach as much as possible relies on theoretical arguments like unification, naturalness etc, aiming to maximally reduce the set of free parameters and obtain maximally restricted predictions. In this approach  the quantum stability of the gauge hierarchy suggests that sparticles weigh less than about 1 TeV , which is also the range favored for a cold dark matter particle, and there are indeed generic domains of the MSSM parameter space in which the relic LSP density falls within the range favored by astrophysics and cosmology. The unsuccessful laboratory searches for sparticles impose non-trivial constraints on the MSSM parameter space, suggesting that the LSP neutralino is mainly a $`U(1)`$ gaugino (Bino) . In the MSSM the lightest neutralino $`\chi \stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0`$ is a mixture of four superpartners of gauge and Higgs bosons (Bino, Wino and two Higgsinos):

$$\chi =N_{11}\stackrel{~}{B}^0+N_{12}\stackrel{~}{W}^0+N_{13}\stackrel{~}{H}_1^0+N_{14}\stackrel{~}{H}_2^0.$$
(1)
It is commonly accepted that $`\chi `$ is mostly gaugino-like if $`PN_{11}^2+N_{12}^2>0.9`$ and Higgsino-like if $`P<0.1`$, or mixed otherwise.

It is due to the Bino-likeness of the relic neutralinos that the calculated neutralino-nucleon cross sections appeared very small and one usually arrived at the conclusion that it was hardly possible to reach the mSUGRA space by means of direct and indirect searches for dark matter particles . The other side of this conclusion is also well known: when $`|\mu |`$ decreases, the Higgsino components $`N_{13}`$ and $`N_{14}`$ of $`\chi `$ increase ($`P`$ decreases) and as a result the spin-independent cross section increases. So Higgsino-like (and mixed) neutralino on the other hand increases the prospect for its detection as a dark matter particle . Therefore it seems a crucial question here, to what extent the neutralino is mostly gaugino-like, Higgsino-like, or mixed.

A way to look for any possibility of higher cross sections and higher expected rates of detection is to investigate alternate models. The basis of it is a departure from the stringent mSUGRA by means of a relaxation of some unification and other theoretical assumptions aiming to obtain as general predictions for the expected detection rate as possible. A remarkable shift from mSUGRA to more relaxed models was made by . It mostly included relaxation of unification of soft scalar mass parameters (so called nonuniversal soft symmetry breaking) as well as gaugino mass non-universality. The large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ regime was also considered as a source of higher cross sections. Indeed in canonical mSUGRA it was pointed out  that the large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ regime allows regions where $`\sigma _{\chi p}10^6`$pb. Besides, with non-universal soft scalar masses, it was also found that $`\sigma _{\chi p}10^6`$pb for small values of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. In particular, this was obtained for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta >25`$ ($`\mathrm{tan}\beta >4`$) working with universal (non-universal) soft terms in . These analyses were performed assuming (non-)universality of the soft breaking terms at the unification scale, $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}10^{16}`$ GeV, which can be obtained within superstring theories  and heterotic M-theory .

Completely new possibilities have also been discussed. For example, it is found that in supersymmetry models muli-TeV scalar masses can exist consistent with naturalness on a certain branch of the radiative breaking of the electroweak symmetry . A similar phenomenon appears in the so-called focus point supersymmetry models where one also avoids naturalness constraints with multi-TeV scalars , and in models with moving intermediate unification scale .

It was noticed that the assumptions concerning universality of the scalar masses $`m_i(M_{\mathrm{GUT}})m_0`$, and the trilinear scalar couplings $`A^{l,u,d}(M_{\mathrm{GUT}})A_0`$, are not very solid, at least from phenomenological point of view, since, universality might occur at a scale higher than $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}10^{16}`$ GeV , or according to string models at a scale $`M_I`$ smaller than $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}10^{16}`$GeV . It was realized that the string scale may be anywhere between the weak scale and the Planck scale. For instance D-brane configurations allow these possibilities in type I strings . Similar results can also be obtained in type II strings  and weakly and strongly coupled heterotic strings . Moreover the $`M_I`$ might be anywhere between the weak scale and the Planck scale , with significant consequences for the size of the neutralino-nucleon cross section. The case of non-universal gaugino masses was analyzed in  and with respect to direct detection of the superlight dark matter neutralinos in . Schemes with CP-violating phases one can find in .

Therefore due to the large uncertainties involved in the choice of the scale $`M_I`$ and going to obtain as much as general predictions it appeared more convenient to work within a phenomenological SUSY model whose parameters are defined directly at the electroweak scale as for example in  and which is denoted as an effective scheme of MSSM (effMSSM) in .

Obviously, this way much larger expected event rates were obtained and optimistic conclusions concerning the possibility to constrain significantly the SUSY parameter space with dark matter experiments were drawn .

In our previous calculations in effMSSM  we have adopted an (effective) scheme (with non-universal scalar masses and with non-universal gaugino soft masses) which has supplied us with large relatively direct detection rates of dark matter neutralinos, practically independently of what is the neutralino composition. In most of the MSSM parameter space we, in agreement with others, have obtained at the detectable level mostly gaugino-like neutralinos, but always existed small Higgsino admixtures (at a level less than 1-5%) which managed to produce large enough cross sections and rates.

In 1994 we claimed that nuclear spin is not important for detection of dark matter particles, provided the detection sensitivity does not exceed 0.01 events$`/`$day$`/`$kg, which was considered that time as unreachable . Now the situation has changed and we would like to notice that for targets with spin-non-zero nuclei it might be the spin-dependent interaction that determines the lower bound for the direct detection rate when the cross section of the scalar interaction, which is usually assumed to be the dominant part, drops below $`10^{12÷13}`$pb .

New updated parameters of the nucleon structure involved in the evaluation of the elastic neutralino nucleon scattering have become available  and one expects that they will affect the cross sections of neutralino nucleon scattering. At least significant cancellations may occur for some values of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ for scalar- and spin-dependent cross sections (at least for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta <10`$ ).

The above considerations stimulated us to perform a recalculation of our previous analysis.

## II Approach

A dark matter event is elastic scattering of a relic neutralino from a target nucleus producing a nuclear recoil which can be detected by a suitable detector . The differential event rate in respect to the recoil energy is the subject of experimental measurements. The rate depends on the distribution of the relic neutralinos in the solar vicinity and the cross section of neutralino-nucleus elastic scattering. In our analysis we use the total event rate $`R`$ which is integrated over recoil energies and useful for searching for domains with extreme rates. We follow our papers , where one can find all relevant formulas and astrophysical parameters. We consider only a simple spherically symmetric isothermal distribution and do not go into details of any possible uncertainties (and/or modulation effects) of the Galactic halo WIMP distribution .

To calculate the event rate we use for the relic neutralino mass density and for the escape neutralino velocity commonly accepted values 0.3 GeV$`/`$cm3 and 600 km$`/`$s, respectively. Their experimental variations can slightly change $`R`$ but leave the dependence of $`R`$ on the MSSM parameters unaffected. To compare our results with other calculations and sensitivities of different dark matter experiments we calculate also the total cross section for relic neutralino elastic scattering on the nucleon. The scalar (spin-independent) part of the elastic neutralino-proton(neutron) cross section at zero momentum transfer $`q=0`$ is

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{SI}}^{p,n}(0)=4\frac{\mu ^2}{\pi }\left[𝒞_{p,n}\right]^2,\mathrm{where}𝒞_{p,n}=\underset{q=u,d,s}{}f_{Tq}^{(p,n)}𝒞_q+\frac{2}{27}f_{TG}^{(p,n)}\underset{c,b,t}{}𝒞_q.$$

The spin-dependent part of the elastic $`\chi `$-nucleon cross section can be written as

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{SD}}^{p,n}(0)=4\frac{\mu ^2}{\pi }3\left[𝒜_{p,n}\right]^2\mathrm{where}𝒜_{p,n}=\underset{u,d,s}{}𝒜_q\mathrm{\Delta }q^{(p,n)},\mathrm{and}\mu =\frac{m_\chi M_{p,n}}{m_\chi +M_{p,n}}.$$

The effective couplings $`𝒜_q`$ and $`𝒞_q`$ of the neutralino-quark Lagrangian

$$L_{\mathrm{eff}}=𝒜_q\overline{\chi }\gamma _\mu \gamma _5\chi \overline{q}\gamma ^\mu \gamma _5q+𝒞_q\overline{\chi }\chi \overline{q}q+O\left(1/m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^4\right)$$

which enter the cross sections one can find in . The parameters $`f_{Tq}^{(p,n)}`$ and $`f_{TG}^{(p,n)}`$ are defined by

$$m_pf_{Tq}^{(p)}p|m_q\overline{q}q|p,f_{TG}^{(p,n)}=1\underset{q=u,d,s}{}f_{Tq}^{(p,n)}.$$

Following  we use the updated parameters:

$`f_{Tu}^{(p)}=0.020\pm 0.004,f_{Td}^{(p)}=0.026\pm 0.005,f_{Ts}^{(p)}=0.118\pm 0.062;`$ (2)
$`f_{Tu}^{(n)}=0.014\pm 0.003,f_{Td}^{(n)}=0.036\pm 0.008,f_{Ts}^{(n)}=0.118\pm 0.062.`$ (3)
Our estimations of the effect of the inaccuracy in the determination of $`f_{Ts}`$ on the total event rate agree with those obtained before in  and in . For a different determination using an analytic analysis see . The two corridors do ovelap. The inaccuracy maximally changes the proton-neutralino cross section (event rate) within about one order of magnitude. The value chosen in this work gives probably a more pessimistic view of the cross sections. The inaccuracy of other parameters has a smaller effect on the cross sections.

The factors $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i^{(p,n)}`$ parameterize the quark spin content of the nucleon. A global QCD analysis for the $`g_1`$ structure functions , including $`𝒪(\alpha _s^3)`$ corrections, corresponds to the values

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_u^{(p)}=\mathrm{\Delta }_d^{(n)}=0.78\pm 0.02,\mathrm{\Delta }_d^{(p)}=\mathrm{\Delta }_u^{(n)}=0.48\pm 0.02,\mathrm{\Delta }_s^{(p)}=\mathrm{\Delta }_s^{(n)}=0.15\pm 0.02.$$
(4)
We calculate $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2`$ following the standard procedure on the basis of the approximate formula . We take into account all channels of the $`\chi \chi `$ annihilation. Since the neutralinos are mixtures of gauginos and higgsinos, the annihilation can occur both, via s-channel exchange of the $`Z^0`$ and Higgs bosons and t-channel exchange of a scalar particle. This constrains the parameter space . As mentioned in the introduction we require $`0.1<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<0.3`$, for comparison we also present our results when $`0.025<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<1`$.

Another stringent constraint is imposed by the branching ratio of $`bs\gamma `$ decay, measured by the CLEO collaboration to be $`1.0\times 10^4<\mathrm{B}(bs\gamma )<4.2\times 10^4`$. In the MSSM this flavor-changing neutral current process receives contributions from $`H^\pm `$$`t`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^\pm `$$`\stackrel{~}{t}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$$`\stackrel{~}{q}`$ loops in addition to the standard model $`W`$$`t`$ loop. This also restricts the SUSY parameter space .

The masses of the supersymmetric particles are constrained by the results from the high energy colliders. This imposes relevant constraints on the parameter space of the MSSM. In  we used the following lower bounds for the SUSY particles : $`M_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_2^+}65`$ GeV for the light chargino, $`M_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+}99`$ GeV for the heavy chargino, $`M_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{1,2,3}^0}45,76,127`$ GeV for non-LSP neutralinos, respectively; $`M_{\stackrel{~}{\nu }}43`$ GeV for sneutrinos, $`M_{\stackrel{~}{e}_R}70`$ GeV for selectrons, $`M_{\stackrel{~}{q}}210`$ GeV for squarks, $`M_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}85`$ GeV for light top-squark, $`M_{H^0}79`$ GeV for neutral Higgs bosons, $`M_{\mathrm{CH}}70`$ GeV for the charged Higgs boson. On the basis of last LEP results  we use now new lower limits for charginos: $`M_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{1,2}^\pm }100`$GeV, and neutral Higgs bosons: $`m_{H^0}>100`$GeV.

As previously  we explore the MSSM parameter space at the weak scale relaxing completely constraints following from any unification assumption. Nevertheless we respect other available restrictions from cosmology, accelerator SUSY searches, rare FCNC $`bs\gamma `$ decay, etc .

The MSSM parameter space is determined by entries of the mass matrices of neutralinos, charginos, Higgs bosons, sleptons and squarks. The relevant definitions one can find in . The list of free parameters includes: $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is the ratio of neutral Higgs boson vacuum expectation values, $`\mu `$ is the bilinear Higgs parameter of the superpotential, $`M_{1,2}`$ are soft gaugino masses, $`M_A`$ is the CP-odd Higgs mass, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{U}}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{D}}^2`$ ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{L}}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{E}}^2`$) are squared squark (slepton) mass parameters for the 1st and 2nd generation, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{Q}_3}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{T}}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{B}}^2`$ ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{L}_3}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\tau }}^2`$) are squared squark (slepton) mass parameters for 3rd generation and $`A_t`$, $`A_b`$, $`A_\tau `$ are soft trilinear couplings for the 3rd generation. In our numerical analysis the parameters of the MSSM are randomly varied in the following intervals:

$`1\mathrm{TeV}<M_1<1\mathrm{TeV},2\mathrm{TeV}<M_2,\mu ,A_t<2\mathrm{TeV},`$ (5)
$`1<\mathrm{tan}\beta <50,60\mathrm{GeV}<M_A<1000\mathrm{GeV},`$ (6)
$`10\mathrm{GeV}^2<m_Q^2,m_L^2,m_{Q_3}^2,m_{L_3}^2<10^6\mathrm{GeV}^2.`$ (7)
Following  we assume that squarks are basically degenerate. Bounds on flavor-changing neutral currents imply that squarks with equal gauge quantum numbers must be close in mass. With the possible exception of third generation squarks the assumed degeneracy therefore holds almost model-independently . Therefore for other sfermion mass parameters we used the relations $`m_{\stackrel{~}{U}}^2=m_{\stackrel{~}{D}}^2=m_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{E}}^2=m_L^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{T}}^2=m_{\stackrel{~}{B}}^2=m_{Q_3}^2`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{E}_3}^2=m_{L_3}^2`$. The parameters $`A_b`$ and $`A_\tau `$ are fixed to be zero. We consider the domain of the MSSM parameter space, in which we perform our scans, as quite spread and natural. Any extra expansion of it like, for example, using $`10`$ TeV$`<M_2<`$ 10 TeV, etc, of course, can be possible, but should be considered, contrary to , as quite unnatural.

## III Results and discussion

### A Coannihilation

The effects of coannihilation may become important when the next to the lowest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) has a mass which lies close to the LSP mass . The size of the effects is exponentially damped by the factor $`e^{\mathrm{\Delta }_ix}`$ where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i=(m_i/m_\chi 1)`$, $`x=m_\chi /kT`$ and where $`m_\chi `$ is the LSP mass. Because of this damping the coannihilation effects are typically important only for regions of the parameter space where the constraint $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i<0.1`$ is satisfied. Some of the possible candidates for NLSP are the light stau $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1`$, $`\stackrel{~}{e}_R`$, the next to the lightest neutralino $`\chi _2^0`$, and the light chargino $`\chi _1^+`$. It was found that in mSUGRA the upper limit on the neutralino mass consistent with the current experimental constraints on the relic density is extended from 200 GeV to 600 GeV  when the effects of $`\chi \stackrel{~}{\tau }`$ coannihilation are included.

By means of excluding points which can give non-negligible contribution to relic neutralino annihilation via coannihilations with other SUSY particles we simply have estimates of the influence of the coannihilation to our previous results. We used the constraint: $`(m_im_{\mathrm{LSP}})/(m_{\mathrm{LSP}})<0.2`$, where $`i`$ runs over next-to-LSP neutralino, charginos, staus, stops etc. In accordance with previous estimates of  we found that the coannihilation does not significantly change our main results. In fact, less than 20% of the models were denied by this coannihilation constraint, which in the case of $`0.025<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<1`$ excludes points with simultaneously small $`|\mu |`$ ($`|\mu |<500`$GeV) and large $`|M_1|`$ ($`|M_1|>600`$GeV), allowing for a substantial non-gaugino fraction of the LSP only in the region of relatively small $`|\mu |`$. If the relic abundance of neutralinos is located in the range $`0.1<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<0.3`$, the coannihilation constraint appears less restrictive.

### B Cross sections

Our calculations with the updated nucleon structure  for the WIMP-nucleon cross section of both spin and scalar interactions as function of the WIMP mass are depicted below as scatter plots (Figs. 16).

The use of the updated parameters (2)–(4) does not change significantly the general distribution of points over the scatter plots as compared with calculations with earlier nucleon parameters  used in .

Scatter plots with individual cross sections of spin-dependent and spin-independent interactions of WIMPs with proton and neutron are given in fig. 1 as functions of the LSP mass. In the figure light circles correspond to cross sections calculated under the old assumption that $`0.025<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<1`$. Filled triangles give the same cross section but the constraint on the flat and accelerating universe is imposed by $`0.1<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<0.3`$. One can see that the reduction of the allowed domain for the relic density does not significantly affect spin-dependent and the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections, i.e. restriction to a flat and accelerating universe weakly affects these cross sections.

The different behavior of these cross sections with mass of the LSP can be seen from the plots. There is a more stringent lower bound for the spin-dependent cross section. It is at a level of $`10^7`$pb, which is about an order of magnitude larger then the one presented in , where for small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ ($`\mathrm{tan}\beta =3,\mu <0`$, and small $`m_\chi `$) the effect of a cancellation induced by the difference in signs between $`\mathrm{\Delta }_u`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{d,s}`$ (4) was reported. Aside from the cancellation, the spin-dependent cross section peaks at about $`10^4`$ pb and drops rapidly as $`m_\chi `$ increases down to $`10^{7÷8}`$ pb at $`m_\chi 600`$ GeV . We have checked that special consideration of the low $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ regime supplies us also with smaller cross section values for spin-dependent interactions, which do not enter in contradictions with .

Such a cancellation was found also in scalar cross sections for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =10`$ and $`\mu <0`$. . In this case Higgs exchange is dominant. The cancellation in the mSUGRA is due to the cancellation between the up-type contribution (which is negative) and the down-type contribution, which is initially positive but decreasing, eventually becoming negative as we increase $`m_\chi `$.

If fig. 2 filled circles present our calculations when constraints due to an accelerating universe are not applied and as in  we hold $`0.025<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<1`$. Filled triangles give the same cross section, but using as  the boundary $`0.1<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<0.3`$. The contours for allowed scalar WIMP-proton cross sections from  are also given together with some current (DAMA , CDMS , HEIDELBERG-MOSCOW , HDMS prototype ) and future-expected experimental exclusion curves (HDMS , GENIUS-TF , GENIUS  and CDMS ). This figure allows one to see the influence of the flat and accelerating universe on the distribution of WIMP-proton scalar cross section. The reduction left only 25% of points but nevertheless the distribution of the remaining points differs only slightly from the one obtained with $`0.025<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<1`$. The models with very small cross sections as well as models with very large cross sections (in fact experimentally excluded) still persist.

One also can conclude that there is no contradiction between the result of  obtained in the mSUGRA with minimal number of free parameters and our phenomenological scan, which also allows models with very small cross sections.

While we have $`1<\mathrm{tan}\beta <50`$, the contour from  was obtained under the assumption that $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 10`$ to avoid some uncertainties in the treatment of radiative corrections in the renormalization-group evolution of the MSSM parameters which affect the relic density calculations . As noticed by many groups , the scalar cross section of elastic WIMP-nucleon scattering increases with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. As can be seen from fig. 1 of  $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ seems to be the only SUSY parameter with which the lower bound of the direct detection rate has the tendency to increase. The majority of the points at the scatter plots in fig. 3 are shifted to the domain of larger cross section with increase of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$.

In general the increase of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ effectively relaxes the $`\mu `$ constraint in mSUGRA (it allows $`\mu `$ to be smaller) and results in a non-negligible Higgsino component followed by significantly larger scalar cross section (see for example ).

We also respect as before  non-universality of soft supersymmetry-breaking masses in the scalar and the gaugino sectors (see list of free parameters in (6)), resulting in larger cross sections, as noted in .

The spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-proton cross sections as functions of input parameters $`\mu `$, $`m_Q^2`$, $`M_A`$, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ are depicted in figs. 4 and 5.

There is no noticeable dependence of these scatter plots on the other free parameters from (6), for which we therefore do not show scatter plots. One can see from fig. 4 the similarity of the scatter plots for spin-dependent and and scalar cross sections as functions of $`\mu `$ and $`m_Q^2`$. Decrease of both lower bounds of the cross sections with $`m_Q^2`$ occur due to increase of masses of squarks, which enter the s-channel intermediate states. The only visible difference concerns more sharp lower bounds for the spin-dependent cross section. Both spin-dependent and spin-independent cross sections increase when $`|\mu |`$ decreases, in agreement with . It is not easy to trace the tendency in mSUGRA models because the parameter $`\mu `$ there is strongly constrained by the electroweak symmetry breaking condition (see, for example, ).

The increase of the scalar cross sections generally is connected with an increase of the Higgsino admixture of the LSP and increase of Higgsino-gaugino interference which enters this cross section . The reason of the Higgsino growth can be non-universality of scalar soft masses , variation of intermediate unification scale , or new focus point regime of supersymmetry .

For example, as given in , the smaller the intermediate scale $`M_I`$ is, the larger the Higgsino components become. In particular, for $`M_I=10^{16}`$ GeV the LSP is mainly Bino, the Higgs-neutralino-neutralino couplings are suppressed and therefore the cross sections are small. However for $`M_I=10^{11}`$ GeV the Higgsino contributions become important and even dominant with the consequence of larger cross sections. It is also worth noting that, for any fixed value of $`M_I`$, the larger $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is, the larger the Higgsino contributions become.

Also it is claimed  that in the specific context of minimal supergravity (focus point regime), a cosmologically stable mixed gaugino-Higgsino state emerges as an excellent, robust dark matter candidate. The claim relies on recent arguments, that all squark and slepton masses can be taken well above 1 TeV with no loss of naturalness on the basis of a seemingly reasonable objective definition of naturalness . The mathematical basis of this result is the existence of focus points in renormalization group trajectories, which render the weak scale (i.e., the Higgs potential) largely insensitive to variations in unknown supersymmetry parameters***The background of the approach can be questioned  due to a possibility to shift the focus point for the Higgs mass parameter right to the GUT scale by means ofcappropriate choice of the initial condition for the top Yukawa coupling . Anyway from a phenomenological point of view the approach is interesting.. While in these models the squark and slepton masses are unusually large, the electroweak gaugino and Higgsino particle masses are generically well below 1 TeV. The increase of the common soft scalar mass $`m_0`$ far beyond 1 TeV associated with decrease of $`|\mu |`$ below the gaugino masses, $`M_1,M_2`$, leads to significant mixing between Higgsino and gaugino states accompanied by Higgs boson diagrams enhancement. A net result are again large scalar cross sections.

The arguments presented above do not work in SUGRA . The LSP as Higgsino-like is almost excluded by LEP constraints  even if the assumptions of universal soft supersymmetry breaking are relaxed, and Higgsino dark matter is certainly excluded if universality is assumed, as is the case here. In addition to the LEP constraints, this is because the value of $`\mu `$ is predicted as a function of $`m_{1/2}`$ and $`m_0`$, placing the LSP firmly in the Bino-like region. The same considerations exclude an LSP with mixed Higgsino/gaugino content.

In the SUGRA framework of  the elastic scattering cross sections, which are predicted for the LSP mass $`m_\chi `$ lie in a comparatively narrow band. This is essentially because the LSP is always mainly Bino-like, so its couplings do not depend greatly on other MSSM parameters such as $`m_0`$. The principal causes of broadening are the uncertainties in the hadronic inputs and the possibilities of cancellations that may reduce the cross sections for some specific values of the constrained MSSM parameters .

Figure 5 shows that while the spin cross section displays almost full insensivity to $`\mu `$ and $`M_A`$ (Higgs bosons do not contribute) the scalar cross section possesses remarkable dependence on these parameters. The cross section rather quickly drops with growth of the CP-odd Higgs mass $`M_A`$ and increases with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ in accordance with results of .

The different $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$\- and $`M_A`$-dependence of spin-dependent and spin-independent cross section as well as general about-4-order-of-magnitude excess of spin-dependent cross section over spin-independent cross sections may be important for observations .

### C Role of the spin

To be more definite with the statement claimed above, in fig. 6 we present a comparison of total spin-dependent versus total spin-independent event rates in 73Ge (spin$`=9/2`$) — as representative and one of the most promising isotopes for future construction of high-sensitivity detectors.

Figure 6 shows the weak dependence of the ratio on mass of the LSP with the mean value being approximately 0.01–0.1. There are very large and very small values for the ratio practically for any given mass of the LSP. The spin-independent (scalar) contribution obviously dominates in the domain of large expected rates in the Germanium detector ($`R>0.1`$events$`/`$day$`/`$kg) as was obtained before (see, for example ). But as soon as the total rate drops down to $`R<0.01`$events$`/`$day$`/`$kg or, equivalently, the scalar neutralino-proton cross section becomes smaller than $`10^9÷10^{10}`$pb, the spin-dependent interaction may produce a rather non-negligible contribution to the total event rate. Moreover if the scalar cross section decreases further ($`\sigma <10^{12}`$pb), it becomes obvious that the spin contribution alone saturates the total rate and protects it (see lower bounds in fig. 4 and 5) from decreasing below $`R10^6÷10^7`$events$`/`$day$`/`$kg .

This observation could be quite important for experiments actually looking for direct detection of dark matter, but not only for exclusion plots. Indeed, while scalar cross sections governed mostly by Higgs exchange can be rather small (when Higgs masses remain large enough, for example in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model ) the spin cross section can not be arbitrary small, because the mass of the $`Z`$ boson, which gives the dominant contribution, is well defined, provided one ignores any possible fine-tuning cancellations .

Therefore, if an experiment with sensitivity $`10^5÷10^6`$events$`/`$day$`/`$kg fails to detect a dark matter signal, an experiment with higher sensitivity (and non-zero spin target) will be able to detect dark matter particles only due to the spin neutralino-quark interaction.

## IV Conclusion

Recent measurements in modern cosmology have changed the expected fraction of the cold dark matter in the universe, new results for the nucleon structure were obtained, a new generation of high-sensitivity experimental detectors are under consideration. All these changes stimulated us to recalculate our previous analysis concerning detection of cold dark matter.

To this end we explored the MSSM parameter space at the weak scale where new accelerator and cosmological constraints are respected. We restrict the relic neutralino density to be in the range $`0.1\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h^20.3`$. We considered the variation of the spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections and of the expected event rate in 73Ge, with parameters of the MSSM, uncertainties of the nucleon structure and other theoretical assumptions like universality and coannihilation.

The main results of the exploration can be summarized as follows.

1. The results of our updated calculations fall in general agreement with calculations performed in mSUGRA as well as with other less restrictive approaches, which allowed larger variation of the cross sections and detection rates.

2. The use of the updated parameters of the nucleon structure does not change significantly the general distribution of points over the scatter plots as compared with calculations with earlier nucleon parameters.

3. In accordance with previous estimations we found that the coannihilation does not significantly change our main conclusions. We understand that our estimation of the coannihilation effect is somewhat indirect, but in the effMSSM approach there is no stringent correlation between parameters, which sometimes makes the coannihilation channels inevitable.

4. The new cosmological constraint on the relic neutralino density (due to flat and accelerating universe) which is numerically used in the form $`0.1<\mathrm{\Omega }_\chi h_0^2<0.3`$ in our approach does not significantly affect the resulting scatter plots for neutralino-nucleon elastic cross sections.

5. To single out (mostly in the mSUGRA) theoretically a dominant contribution to the cross section or event rate one usually relies on the knowledge of the LSP composition. For example, as discussed through this paper, if the Bino fraction is large, then the cross section is small. Numerically the situation is less transparent. As seen from fig. 6 (upper right) the overwhelming majority of points (the region of highest point density) has $`P1`$, or very small Higgsino admixture and one should expect negligible event rate. Nevertheless this is not the case. There are a lot of points with sizable event rate for $`P1`$. Therefore qualitative estimations of the dominance of the given contribution on the basis, for example, of large gaugino fraction of the LSP ($`P>0.9`$) can be quantitatively not always correct.

6. We notice that for targets with spin-non-zero nuclei it might be the spin-dependent interaction that determines the lower bound for the direct detection rate when the cross section of the scalar interaction drops below about $`10^{12}`$pb. If this occurs the spin nuclear detectors would have notable advantage comparing with spinless detectors, or may become the only way to observe SUSY via direct dark matter detection.

Finally we would like to stress again the fact, clearly seen from figs. 2 and 3, that to reliably investigate the SUSY parameter space and therefore to have a chance to beat accelerator experiments in searching for (or discovery of) the new physics (supersymmetry) one needs a GENIUS-like detector.

Acknowlegment: The authors would like to thank Prof. Pran Nath for useful discussions. One of us (V.B.) thanks the Max Planck Institut fuer Kernphysik for the hospitality extended to him during his stay at Heidelberg. The investigation was supported in part (V.B.) by RFBR Grant 00-02–17587.