Taking Halo-independent dark matter methods out of the bin

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2014/10/076· OSTI ID:22375775

Fox, Patrick J. ^[1]; Kahn, Yonatan; McCullough, Matthew ^[2]

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1. Theoretical Physics Department, Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois 60510 (United States)
2. Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

We develop a new halo-independent strategy for analyzing emerging DM hints, utilizing the method of extended maximum likelihood. This approach does not require the binning of events, making it uniquely suited to the analysis of emerging DM direct detection hints. It determines a preferred envelope, at a given confidence level, for the DM velocity integral which best fits the data using all available information and can be used even in the case of a single anomalous scattering event. All of the halo-independent information from a direct detection result may then be presented in a single plot, allowing simple comparisons between multiple experiments. This results in the halo-independent analogue of the usual mass and cross-section plots found in typical direct detection analyses, where limit curves may be compared with best-fit regions in halo-space. The method is straightforward to implement, using already-established techniques, and its utility is demonstrated through the first unbinned halo-independent comparison of the three anomalous events observed in the CDMS-Si detector with recent limits from the LUX experiment.

• OSTI ID: 22375775
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 10; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CROSS SECTIONS
DETECTION
INTEGRALS
MASS
MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD FIT
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
SCATTERING
SPACE
VELOCITY