Weakly interacting massive particles In astrophysics, weakly
interacting massive particles or WIMPs, are hypothetical
particles serving as one possible solution to the dark matter
problem. These particles interact through the weak force and
gravity, and possibly through other interactions no stronger
than the weak force. Because they do not interact through
electromagnetism they cannot be seen directly, and because they
do not interact through the strong nuclear force they do not
interact strongly with atomic nuclei. This combination of
properties gives WIMPs many of the properties of neutrinos,
except for being far more massive and therefore slower.
Theoretical framework and properties  ||This section needs
additional citations for verification. (January 2011)| WIMP-like
particles are predicted by R-parity-conserving supersymmetry, a
popular type of extension to the standard model of particle
physics, although none of the large number of new particles in
supersymmetry have been observed. The main theoretical