WIMP direct detection experiments are just reaching the sensitivity required to detect galactic dark matter in the form of neutralinos. Data from these experiments are usually analyzed under the simplifying assumption that the Milky Way halo is an isothermal sphere with Maxwellian velocity distribution. Observations and numerical simulations indicate that galaxy halos are in fact triaxial and anisotropic. Furthermore, in the cold dark matter paradigm galactic halos form via the merger of smaller subhalos, and at least some residual substructure survives. We examine the effect of halo modeling on WIMP exclusion limits, taking into account the detector response. Triaxial and anisotropic halo models, with parameters motivated by observations and numerical simulations, lead to significant changes which are different for different experiments, while if the local WIMP distribution is dominated by small scale clumps then the exclusion limits are changed dramatically.

• Received 18 July 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.66.083003