QCD corrections to neutralino-nucleon scattering

We calculate the dominant loop corrections from both standard and supersymmetric QCD to the effective coupling of neutralinos to nucleons. The potentially largest corrections come from gluino-squark loop contributions to the Higgs boron couplings to quarks; these corrections also affect the leading spin-independent squark exchange contribution. Ordinary QCD corrections to the effective coupling of CP-even Higgs bosons to two gluons are also sizable. For large tan beta values, i.e. in the region of parameter space probed by current and near-future direct dark-matter search experiments, the total corrections can exceed a factor of three. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.