The race to detect WIMP dark matter with liquid noble-based detectors

The direct search for WIMP dark matter is on the verge of a major increase in sensitivity, in particular due to the advent of detectors based on liquified noble elements. The best dark matter limits are now from XENON10, a two-phase xenon detector with 5 kg fiducial mass, and a set of larger, next generation experiments based on Ar and Xe are planed or underway. This includes the 300 kg LUX experiment, of which I am a member, and which will operate in the historic Davis cavern in the new SUSEL lab in South Dakota. These technologies and the proposed DUSEL underground laboratory offer an unprecedented opportunity for dark matter searches with sensitive masses up to at least 10 tons. This would provide a nearly- complete test of dark matter at the weak scale.