List of Figures

	Figure 1: Allowable parameter spaces for $Ω Λ$ , $Ωk$ , $ωb$ , $ωd$ , $fν$ , $τ$ and $r$ . The figure is taken from [143] and the dashed lines mark the 95% confidence limits.
	Figure 2: The left-hand panel from [143] shows the joint constraints on the baryonic matter and dark matter densities, together with the allowed band of baryonic density from BBN models. The right-hand panel from [41] shows the joint constraints on $Ω λ$ and $Ω m$ which result from combined use of CMB data and high-redshift supernova data.
	Figure 3: Possible scale-lengths where different types of dark matter might be present, based on a similar representation which appeared in [30].
	Figure 4: High-resolution N-body simulation of a galactic dark matter halo [89].
	Figure 5: The rotation curve of the Milky Way. In the left-hand panel are the measured rotation speeds given by the average values from a number of measurements on different objects [50]. The right hand panel shows the various mass components that combine together to reproduce the observed curve between 5 and 25 kpc [72]. The dotted lines are the bulge and disk contributions, and the short-dashed curve is the dark matter contribution. The solid curve shows the combined effect of all three, and this is compared to the long-dashed curve which approximates the measured data in the left-hand panel below 25 kpc.
	Figure 6: Total neutralino elastic scattering cross-section normalised to one nucleon for a range of neutralino models within MSSM and mSUGRA, taken from [79]. The pink area corresponds to a neutralino in a dominantly bino state, the green bounded area is dominantly higgsino. The cross-section includes both spin-independent and spin-dependent contributions, and in general the spin-dependent part is likely to be larger.
	Figure 7: Background energy spectra for two Ge detectors of the PNL/USC/Zaragoza group taken from [28] (a – upper panel). Coherent cross-section upper limits from Ge detectors taken from [2] (b – lower panel).
	Figure 8: Background rate from 428.1 days of data binned in 10-minute intervals and folded to look for daily modulation [2] (a – upper panel). Results of an annual modulation search using $∼$ 4 years of data from the DAMA experiment [16] (lower panel).
	Figure 9: Differential pulse shapes from NaI for various radiation types. There is a clear difference between the functional form for high $dE ∕dx$ interactions, such as nuclear recoil and alpha tracks, and $γ$ -ray induced electron tracks.
	Figure 10: Differential time constant distributions from the UK NaI experiment [105, 118] showing the measured background (solid line + data points), and neutron and $γ$ -ray calibration distributions.
	Figure 11: The two-phase xenon test chamber used by Wang [35].
	Figure 12: Relative signal amplitudes for $γ$ -rays and neutrons for two hybrid type experiments. On the left is shown the primary to secondary scintillation signal amplitudes for a two-phase xenon instrument [35]. Neutrons have large S1/S2 ratios. The right hand panel shows the ionisation versus phonon performance of the CDMS germanium bolometer [3]. $γ$ -rays populate the plot above the solid line with nuclear recoils below it. The circled points are experimental data thought to originate from neutron recoils.
	Figure 13: Relative figures of merit for the discrimination potential in NaI, cooled NaI and two-phase liquid xenon [117]. In this plot a lower figure of merit implies proportionately better performance.
	Figure 14: Latest published upper limits on (a – upper panel) coherent and (b – lower panel) axial coupled WIMP-nucleon cross-sections adapted from [23].
	Figure 15: The upper panel shows the region of coherent cross-section parameter space consistent with the DAMA NaI annual modulation results [16]. The four curves show the results from each individual year of the four year period shown in Figure 8. The lower panel shows a scatter plot of possible MSSM models which populate the region defined by the first two years of data from [22]. Open circles are cosmologically interesting.
	Figure 16: The upper panel shows the current results on the allowed coherent cross-section parameter space. The plot is from [14] and shows the CDMS 3 $σ$ upper limit [3] (dotted purple curve), the DAMA annual modulation positive detection region (blue solid curve), the DAMA upper limit from pulse shape discrimination (blue dot-dash curve), the EDELWEISS limits [14] (red curves) and the current limits from all combined germanium ionisation detectors [70] (dashed green curve). The lower panel shows an equivalent plot for the axial spin-dependent coupling cross-section. This is a composite plot produced by the SIMPLE collaboration in announcing their latest result [38].
	Figure 17: Expected progress in covering MSSM parameter space from both indirect and direct search techniques over the next several years [49].