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Title: Luminous signals of inelastic dark matter in large detectors

Abstract

We study luminous dark matter signals in models with inelastic scattering. Dark matter χ1 that scatters inelastically off elements in the Earth is kicked into an excited state χ2 that can subsequently decay into a monoenergetic photon inside a detector. The photon signal exhibits large sidereal-daily modulation due to the daily rotation of the Earth and anisotropies in the problem: the dark matter wind comes from the direction of Cygnus due to the Sun's motion relative to the galaxy, and the rock overburden is anisotropic, as is the dark matter scattering angle. This allows outstanding separation of signal from backgrounds. We investigate the sensitivity of two classes of large underground detectors to this modulating photon line signal: large liquid scintillator neutrino experiments, including Borexino and JUNO, and the proposed large gaseous scintillator directional detection experiment CYGNUS. Borexino's (JUNO's) sensitivity exceeds the bounds from xenon experiments on inelastic nuclear recoil for mass splittings δ>~ 240 (180) keV, and is the only probe of inelastic dark matter for 350 keV <~δ<~ 600 keV. CYGNUS's sensitivity is at least comparable to xenon experiments with ~ 10m3 volume detector for δ<~ 150 keV, and could be substantially better with larger volumes and improved backgroundmore » rejection. Such improvements lead to the unusual situation that the inelastic signal becomes the superior way to search for dark matter even if the elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections are comparable.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel). Dept. of Particle Physics and Astrophysics
  2. Fermilab, Batavia, IL (United States). Theoretical Physics Dept.
  3. Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR (United States). Dept. of Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
OSTI Identifier:
1545092
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1601469
Report Number(s):
arXiv:1904.09994; FERMILAB-PUB-19-147-T
Journal ID: ISSN 1029-8479; oai:inspirehep.net:1730850
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359; SC0011640
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online); Journal Volume: 2019; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer Berlin
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Beyond Standard Model; cosmology of theories beyond the SM

Citation Formats

Eby, Joshua, Fox, Patrick J., Harnik, Roni, and Kribs, Graham D. Luminous signals of inelastic dark matter in large detectors. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1007/JHEP09(2019)115.
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Eby, Joshua, Fox, Patrick J., Harnik, Roni, & Kribs, Graham D. Luminous signals of inelastic dark matter in large detectors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2019)115
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Eby, Joshua, Fox, Patrick J., Harnik, Roni, and Kribs, Graham D. Mon . "Luminous signals of inelastic dark matter in large detectors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2019)115. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1545092.
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@article{osti_1545092,
title = {Luminous signals of inelastic dark matter in large detectors},
author = {Eby, Joshua and Fox, Patrick J. and Harnik, Roni and Kribs, Graham D.},
abstractNote = {We study luminous dark matter signals in models with inelastic scattering. Dark matter χ1 that scatters inelastically off elements in the Earth is kicked into an excited state χ2 that can subsequently decay into a monoenergetic photon inside a detector. The photon signal exhibits large sidereal-daily modulation due to the daily rotation of the Earth and anisotropies in the problem: the dark matter wind comes from the direction of Cygnus due to the Sun's motion relative to the galaxy, and the rock overburden is anisotropic, as is the dark matter scattering angle. This allows outstanding separation of signal from backgrounds. We investigate the sensitivity of two classes of large underground detectors to this modulating photon line signal: large liquid scintillator neutrino experiments, including Borexino and JUNO, and the proposed large gaseous scintillator directional detection experiment CYGNUS. Borexino's (JUNO's) sensitivity exceeds the bounds from xenon experiments on inelastic nuclear recoil for mass splittings δ>~ 240 (180) keV, and is the only probe of inelastic dark matter for 350 keV <~δ<~ 600 keV. CYGNUS's sensitivity is at least comparable to xenon experiments with ~ 10m3 volume detector for δ<~ 150 keV, and could be substantially better with larger volumes and improved background rejection. Such improvements lead to the unusual situation that the inelastic signal becomes the superior way to search for dark matter even if the elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections are comparable.},
doi = {10.1007/JHEP09(2019)115},
journal = {Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)},
number = 9,
volume = 2019,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {9}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2019)115
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: A cartoon summarizing the luminous dark matter signal discussed in this work. A heavy dark matter particle, $χ$1, is coming from the direction of the Cygnus constellation and approaching Earth with high speed (left). This allows it to upscatter off a (lead) nucleus somewhere within the Earth, deviatingmore » from its direction only slightly (middle). The excited state, $χ$2, decays back to $χ$1 and a photon in an underground detector located on the opposite side of the Earth (right). The rate for this process would be much lower had the detector been on the Cygnus-facing side of the planet.« less
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    Table 2 (p. 13)table
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