Nuclear form factors for the scattering of weakly interacting massive particles

We discuss the scattering of supersymmetric dark matter particles from nuclei at nonzero momentum transfer. After a brief treatment of spin-independent form factors, we carefully formulate the spin-dependent scattering problem. We conclude with a calculation of a spin-dependent cross section in ¹³¹Xe; it falls as the momentum transfer increases, but more slowly than the spin-independent cross section.

The author thanks J. Rich, D. Seckel, and P. Vogel for useful discussions.