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Title: Modulation effects in dark matter-electron scattering experiments

Abstract

One of the next frontiers in dark-matter direct-detection experiments is to investigate the MeV to GeV mass regime. Such light dark matter does not carry enough kinetic energy to produce an observable nuclear recoil, but it can scatter off electrons, leading to a measurable signal. We propose here a semi-analytic approach to characterize the resulting electron-scattering events in atomic and semiconductor targets, improving on previous analytic proposals that underestimate the signal at high recoil energies. We then use this procedure to study the time-dependent properties of the electron-scattering signal, including the modulation fraction, higher-harmonic modes and modulation phase. The time dependence can be distinct in a non-trivial way from the nuclear scattering case. Additionally, we show that dark-matter interactions inside the Earth can significantly distort the lab-frame phase-space distribution of sub-GeV dark matter.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Princeton Center for Theoretical Science; Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Broad Inst.
  2. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Center for Theoretical Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
OSTI Identifier:
1600716
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1223743
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0007968
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 92; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1550-7998
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

Lee, Samuel K., Lisanti, Mariangela, Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth, and Safdi, Benjamin R. Modulation effects in dark matter-electron scattering experiments. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.92.083517.
Lee, Samuel K., Lisanti, Mariangela, Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth, & Safdi, Benjamin R. Modulation effects in dark matter-electron scattering experiments. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.083517
Lee, Samuel K., Lisanti, Mariangela, Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth, and Safdi, Benjamin R. Fri . "Modulation effects in dark matter-electron scattering experiments". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.083517. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1600716.
@article{osti_1600716,
title = {Modulation effects in dark matter-electron scattering experiments},
author = {Lee, Samuel K. and Lisanti, Mariangela and Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth and Safdi, Benjamin R.},
abstractNote = {One of the next frontiers in dark-matter direct-detection experiments is to investigate the MeV to GeV mass regime. Such light dark matter does not carry enough kinetic energy to produce an observable nuclear recoil, but it can scatter off electrons, leading to a measurable signal. We propose here a semi-analytic approach to characterize the resulting electron-scattering events in atomic and semiconductor targets, improving on previous analytic proposals that underestimate the signal at high recoil energies. We then use this procedure to study the time-dependent properties of the electron-scattering signal, including the modulation fraction, higher-harmonic modes and modulation phase. The time dependence can be distinct in a non-trivial way from the nuclear scattering case. Additionally, we show that dark-matter interactions inside the Earth can significantly distort the lab-frame phase-space distribution of sub-GeV dark matter.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.92.083517},
journal = {Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology},
number = 8,
volume = 92,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Cited by: 111 works
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