Minimal dark matter

A few multiplets, that can be added to the SM contain a lightest neutral component which is automatically stable and provides allowed DM candidates with a non-standard phenomenology. Thanks to coannihilations, a successful thermal abundance is obtained for well defined DM masses. The best candidate seems to be a SU(2)(L) fermion quintuplet with mass 4.4 TeV, accompanied by a charged partner 166 MeV heavier with life-time 1.8 cm, that manifests at colliders as charged tracks disappearing in pi(+/-) with 97.7% branching ratio. The cross section for usual NC direct DM detection is sigma(SI) = f(2) 1.0 x 10(-43) cm(2) where f similar to 1 is a nucleon matrix element. We study prospects for CC direct detection and for indirect detection. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.