Dark antiatoms can explain DAMA
- IFPA, AGO Department, University of Liège, Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège (Belgium)
We show that the existence of a sub-dominant form of dark matter, made of dark ''antiatoms'' of mass m∼ 1 TeV and size a-dot {sub 0}∼ 3 fm, can explain the results of direct detection experiments, with a positive signal in DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA and no signal in other experiments. The signal comes from the binding of the dark antiatoms to thallium, a dopant in DAMA, and is not present for the constituent atoms of other experiments. The dark antiatoms are made of two particles oppositely charged under a dark U(1) symmetry and can bind to terrestrial atoms because of a kinetic mixing between the photon and the massless dark photon, such that the dark particles acquire an electric millicharge ∼ ± 5.10{sup −4}e. This millicharge enables them to bind to high-Z atoms via radiative capture, after they thermalize in terrestrial matter through elastic collisions.
- OSTI ID:
- 22381993
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2015, Issue 02; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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