New Directions in Direct Dark Matter Searches
  I present the status of direct dark matter detection with specific attention
to the experimental results and their phenomenological interpretation in terms
of dark matter interactions. In particular I review a new and more general
approach to study signals in this field based on non-relativistic operators
which parametrize more efficiently the dark matter-nucleus interactions in
terms of a very limited number of relevant degrees of freedom. Then I list the
major experimental results, pointing out the main uncertainties that affect the
theoretical interpretation of the data. Finally, since the underlying theory
that describes both the dark matter and the standard model fields is unknown, I
address the uncertainties coming from the nature of the interaction. In
particular, the phenomenology of a class of models in which the interaction
between dark matter particles and target nuclei is of a long-range type is
discussed.
