EFFECTS OF GALACTIC DARK HALO ROTATION ON WIMP DIRECT-DETECTION

The effects of a possible rotation of the galactic dark halo on the ca lculation of the direct detection rates for particle dark matter are a nalyzed, with special attention to the extraction of the upper limits on the WIMP-nucleon scalar cross section from the experimental data. W e employ a model of dark halo rotation which describes the maximal pos sible effects. For WIMP masses above 50 GeV, the upper limit exclusion plot is modified by less than a factor of two when rotation is includ ed. For lighter masses the effect can be stronger, suggesting the nece ssity to develop specific models of halo rotation in order to provide more accurate conclusions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.