Fully ab-initio all-electron calculation of dark matter-electron scattering in crystals with evaluation of systematic uncertainties

Journal Article · 07 June 2024 · Physical Review. D.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.115008 · OSTI ID:2473419

Dreyer, Cyrus E.; Essig, Rouven; Fernandez-Serra, Marivi; Singal, Aman; Zhen, Cheng

We calculate target-material responses for dark matter–electron scattering at the all-electron level using atom-centered Gaussian basis sets. The all-electron effects enhance the material response at high momentum transfers from dark matter to electrons, $q\gtrsim \mathcal{O}\left(10\alpha m_e\right)$ , compared to calculations using conventional plane wave methods, including those used in ; this enhances the expected event rates at energy transfers $E\gtrsim 10\mathrm{eV}$ , especially when scattering through heavy mediators. We carefully test a range of systematic uncertainties in the theory calculation, including those arising from the choice of basis set, exchange-correlation functional, number of unit cells in the Bloch sum, $\mathbf{k}$ -mesh, and neglect of scatters with very high momentum transfers. We provide state-of-the-art crystal form factors, focusing on silicon and germanium. Our code and results are made publicly available as a new tool, called (“”). Published by the American Physical Society 2024

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0009854
• OSTI ID: 2473419
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 109; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English