  The inert doublet model, a minimal extension of the Standard Model by a
second Higgs doublet, is one of the simplest and most attractive scenarios that
can explain the dark matter. In this paper, we demonstrate the existence of a
new viable region of the inert doublet model featuring dark matter masses
between Mw and about 160 GeV. Along this previously overlooked region of the
parameter space, the correct relic density is obtained thanks to cancellations
between different diagrams contributing to dark matter annihilation into gauge
bosons (W+W- and ZZ). First, we explain how these cancellations come about and
show several examples illustrating the effect of the parameters of the model on
the cancellations themselves and on the predicted relic density. Then, we
perform a full scan of the new viable region and analyze it in detail by
projecting it onto several two-dimensional planes. Finally, the prospects for
the direct and the indirect detection of inert Higgs dark matter within this
new viable region are studied. We find that present direct detection bounds
already rule out a fraction of the new parameter space and that future direct
detection experiments, such as Xenon100, will easily probe the remaining part
in its entirety.
