Title: Modulation effects in dark matter-electron scattering experiments

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
 [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.; Princeton University
  2. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Center for Theoretical Physics

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.

Research Organization:
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP) (SC-26)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0007968
OSTI ID:
1600716
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 92; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 1550-7998
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Migdal effect in dark matter direct detection experiments journal March 2018
Searching for dark absorption with direct detection experiments journal June 2017
Vector SIMP dark matter journal October 2017
FIMP dark matter freeze-in gauge mediation and hidden sector journal May 2018
Constraints on Dark Matter with a moderately large and velocity-dependent DM-nucleon cross-section journal October 2018
Direct detection of strongly interacting sub-GeV dark matter via electron recoils journal September 2019
Refined bounds on MeV-scale thermal dark sectors from BBN and the CMB journal January 2020
Gravitational waves from dark first order phase transitions and dark photons journal January 2018
Direct detection of bound states of asymmetric dark matter journal August 2019
Electron-interacting dark matter: Implications from DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 and prospects for liquid xenon detectors and NaI detectors journal September 2019
Migdal effect and photon bremsstrahlung in effective field theories of dark matter direct detection and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering journal January 2020
Detecting ultralight bosonic dark matter via absorption in superconductors journal July 2016
Absorption of light dark matter in semiconductors journal January 2017
Detection of sub-GeV dark matter and solar neutrinos via chemical-bond breaking journal March 2017
Light dark matter in superfluid helium: Detection with multi-excitation production journal March 2017
Magnetic bubble chambers and sub-GeV dark matter direct detection journal May 2017
Terrestrial effects on dark matter-electron scattering experiments journal July 2017
Direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter with scintillating targets journal July 2017
Decoherence as a way to measure extremely soft collisions with dark matter journal July 2017
New constraints and discovery potential of sub-GeV dark matter with xenon detectors journal August 2017
New constraints and prospects for sub-GeV dark matter scattering off electrons in xenon journal August 2017
Testing light dark matter coannihilation with fixed-target experiments journal September 2017
Light dark matter: Models and constraints journal December 2017
Search for a nonrelativistic component in the spectrum of cosmic rays at Earth journal July 2018
Twin Higgs model with strongly interacting massive particle dark matter journal January 2019
Elastically Decoupling Dark Matter journal June 2016
Probing Sub-GeV Dark Matter with Conventional Detectors journal January 2017
Single-Electron and Single-Photon Sensitivity with a Silicon Skipper CCD journal September 2017
Quantum Forces from Dark Matter and Where to Find Them journal March 2018
SENSEI: First Direct-Detection Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from a Surface Run journal August 2018
SENSEI: Direct-Detection Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from a Shallow Underground Run Using a Prototype Skipper CCD journal April 2019
Relation between the Migdal Effect and Dark Matter-Electron Scattering in Isolated Atoms and Semiconductors journal January 2020
Direct detection of nuclear scattering of sub-Gev dark matter using molecular excitations journal November 2019
The dawn of FIMP Dark Matter: A review of models and constraints journal September 2017
Twin Higgs model with strongly interacting massive particle dark matter text January 2018
Elastically Decoupling Dark Matter text January 2015
Detecting Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter via Absorption in Superconductors text January 2016
Absorption of light dark matter in semiconductors text January 2016
Detection of sub-GeV Dark Matter and Solar Neutrinos via Chemical-Bond Breaking text January 2016
Decoherence as a way to measure extremely soft collisions with dark matter text January 2016
Light Dark Matter in Superfluid Helium: Detection with Multi-excitation Production text January 2016
Magnetic Bubble Chambers and Sub-GeV Dark Matter Direct Detection text January 2017
New constraints and discovery potential of sub-GeV dark matter with xenon detectors text January 2017
Terrestrial Effects on Dark Matter-Electron Scattering Experiments text January 2017
New Constraints and Prospects for sub-GeV Dark Matter Scattering off Electrons in Xenon text January 2017
The Dawn of FIMP Dark Matter: A Review of Models and Constraints text January 2017
Migdal Effect in Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments text January 2017
Light Dark Matter: Models and Constraints text January 2017
FIMP Dark Matter Freeze-in Gauge Mediation and Hidden Sector text January 2017
SENSEI: First Direct-Detection Constraints on sub-GeV Dark Matter from a Surface Run text January 2018
Constraints on Dark Matter with a moderately large and velocity-dependent DM-nucleon cross-section text January 2018
The Migdal Effect and Photon Bremsstrahlung in effective field theories of dark matter direct detection and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering text January 2019
Direct Detection of Strongly Interacting Sub-GeV Dark Matter via Electron Recoils text January 2019
On the relation between Migdal effect and dark matter-electron scattering in isolated atoms and semiconductors text January 2019
Refined Bounds on MeV-scale Thermal Dark Sectors from BBN and the CMB text January 2019

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