Particle-Like Dark Matter

The existance of invisible Dark Matter is the simplest solution that describes the gravitational behavior of the Universe above the length scales of galaxies. While we can infer volumetric mass densities, the range of possible particle masses spans approximately 90 orders of magnitude. In the mass range above about 10 eV/c², Dark Matter would exhibit particle-like behavior, where individual particles could collide with Standard Model particles. From an experimental perspective, such interactions can be studied by setting up a highly sensitive and well-characterized target and waiting for the ambiant galactic dark matter particles to hit it. Since typical matter is composed of atoms, searches for dark matter particles look for otherwise inexplicable recoils of the target material's electrons or nuclei. Events where the nucleus is affected can be interpreted as dark matter scattering with the coherent nucleus, individual nuclear protons or neutrons, or even individual quarks and virtual particles within nucleons, depending on the dark matter particle model being tested. In this talk, I will give an overview of Dark Matter direct detection efforts with particle detectors and their current limits on Dark Matter particle models. Unfortunately, due to time and scope constraints, I will not be able to touch on every target material or experiment, nor every particle dark matter model these experiments can search for.