Title: Inelastic dark matter scattering off Thallium cannot save DAMA

Abstract

We study the compatibility of the observed DAMA modulation signal with inelastic scattering of dark matter (DM) off of the 0.1% Thallium (Tl) dopant in DAMA. In this work we test whether there exist regions of parameter space where the Tl interpretation gives a good fit to the most recent data from DAMA, and whether these regions are compatible with the latest constraints from other direct detection experiments. Previously, Chang et al. in 2010, had proposed the Tl interpretation of the DAMA data, and more recently (in 2019) the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration found regions in parameter space of Tl inelastic scattering that differ by more than 10σ from a no modulation hypothesis. We have expanded upon their work by testing whether the regions of parameter space where inelastic DM-Tl scattering gives a good fit to the most recent DAMA data survive the constraints placed by the lack of a DM signal in XENON1T and CRESST-II. In addition, we have tested how these regions change with the main sources of uncertainty: the Tl quenching factor, which has never been measured directly, and the astrophysical uncertainties in the DM distribution. We conclude that inelastic DM scattering off Tl cannot explain the DAMA datamore » in light of null results from other experiments.« less

Authors:

Jacobsen, Sunniva ^[1]; Freese, Katherine ^[2]; Kelso, Chris ^[3]; Sandick, Pearl ^[4]; Stengel, Patrick ^[5]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
2. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden); KTH Royal Inst. of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden); Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
3. Univ. of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL (United States)
4. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
5. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden); Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Trieste (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Trieste (Italy); Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe (IFPU), Trieste (Italy)

Publication Date:

2021-10-25

Research Org.:

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); National Science Foundation (NSF); Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e della Ricerca (MIUR)

OSTI Identifier:

1831081

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0007859; PHY-1720282

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 2021; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1475-7516

Publisher:

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; dark matter theory; dark matter detectors; dark matter experiments