WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles)

WIMPs are the leading candidate for dark matter, hypothesized as particles produced in the Big Bang that interact via the weak nuclear force. Despite over 20 years of searches, experiments like XENON1T at Italy's Gran Sasso laboratory, using a 2.2-tonne liquid xenon target, and China's PandaX-4T detector have set spin-independent cross-section limits below 10⁻⁴⁶ cm² with no confirmed signal. This absence allows axions (#3) to gain ground, yet WIMPs outperform sterile neutrinos (#4) in theoretical simplicity, fitting naturally into supersymmetric models. The unexplored mass range from 1 GeV to 10 TeV keeps WIMPs viable; next-generation detectors like LUX-ZEPLIN aim to probe this space within five years.