Progress in direct dark matter searches and CRESST

Franz Proebst (MPI Munich)

Despite persuasive indirect evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe and in galaxies, the direct detection of dark matter remains one of the outstanding experimental challenges of present-day physics and cosmology. A plausible candidate for the dark matter is the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) for which supersymmetry provides a well motivated realization. Significant progress has been obtained in recent years by an increasing number of direct searches for WIMP dark matter. The presentationwill give a general overview of the field, introducing the different detector techniques being developed and the current state of the art, with some emphasis on the CRESST dark matter search with scintillating cryogenic calorimeters.