We consider direct-detection searches for sub-GeV dark matter via electron scatterings in the presence of large interactions between dark and ordinary matter. Scatterings both on electrons and nuclei in the Earth's crust, atmosphere, and shielding material attenuate the expected local dark matter flux at a terrestrial detector, so that such experiments lose sensitivity to dark matter above some critical cross section. We study various models, including dark matter interacting with a heavy and ultralight dark photon, through an electric dipole moment, and exclusively with electrons. For a dark-photon mediator and an electric dipole interaction, the dark matter-electron scattering cross-section is directly linked to the dark matter-nucleus cross section, and nuclear interactions typically dominate the attenuation process. We determine the exclusion bands for the different dark-matter models from several experiments - SENSEI, CDMS-HVeV, XENON10, XENON100, and DarkSide-50 - using a combination of Monte Carlo simulations and analytic estimates. We also derive projected sensitivities for a detector located at different depths and for a range of exposures, and calculate the projected sensitivity for SENSEI at SNOLAB and DAMIC-M at Modane. Finally, we discuss the reach to high cross sections and the modulation signature of a small balloon- and satellite-borne detector sensitive to electron recoils, such as a Skipper-CCD. Such a detector could potentially probe unconstrained parameter space at high cross sections for a sub-dominant component of dark matter interacting with a massive, but ultralight, dark photon.
We report the first measurement of fully corrected semi-inclusive charged recoil jets for both direct-photon ($γ_{dir}$) and $π^{0}$ triggers, within two trigger transverse energy ranges between 9 GeV and 15 GeV, in central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt {s_{\rm NN}}$ = 200 GeV using data with an integrated luminosity of 13 $\rm nb^{-1}$ collected by the STAR experiment. A comparison between $π^{0}$-triggered recoil jets in p+p collisions and PYTHIA is discussed. A comparison is also presented between the suppression of $γ_{dir}$- and $π^{0}$-triggered recoil jets in central Au+Au collisions with …
For the interpretation of past and future direct searches for dark matter (DM) particles, it is important to be able to provide accurate predictions for event rates and spectra under a variety of possible and viable assumptions in a computationally efficient way. While there exists a few tools to compute DM induced nuclear recoil spectra, 'obscura' is not limited to nuclear targets. Instead its main focus lies on sub-GeV DM searches probing electron recoils which typically requires methods from atomic and condensed matter physics. In the context of sub-GeV DM searches, new ideas such as target…
Direct-detection experiments sensitive to low-energy electron recoils from sub-GeV dark matter (DM) interactions will also be sensitive to solar neutrinos via coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering (CNS), since the recoiling nucleus can produce a small ionization signal. Solar neutrinos constitute both an interesting signal in their own right and a potential background to a DM search that cannot be controlled or reduced by improved shielding, material purification and handling, or improved detector design. We explore these two possibilities in detail for semiconductor (Si and Ge) and Xe targets,…
Directional detection of Dark Matter particles (DM) in the MeV mass range could be accomplished by studying electron recoils in large arrays of parallel carbon nanotubes. In a scattering process with a lattice electron, a DM particle might transfer sufficient energy to eject it from the nanotube surface. An external electric field is added to drive the electron from the open ends of the array to the detection region. The anisotropic response of this detection scheme, as a function of the orientation of the target with respect to the DM wind, is calculated, and it is concluded that no direct me…
We propose a new candidate of GeV scale inelastic dark matter (DM). Our construction has an anomaly-free $U(1)_X^{}$ gauge group with dark photon mediator, and can realize either scalar or fermionic inelastic DM. It is highly predictive and testable. We study the scattering rate of light inelastic DM with electrons in the XENON1T experiment and with nuclei in the XENON1T, CRESST-III, CDEX-1B and DarkSide-50 experiments. We resolve the recent XENON1T anomaly via electron recoil detection. Combining the XENON1T constraints from both electron recoils and nuclear recoils (including Migdal effect),…
Dark matter (DM) particles with mass in the sub-GeV range are an attractive alternative to heavier weakly-interacting massive particles, but direct detection of such light particles is challenging. If however DM-nucleus scattering leads to ionisation of the recoiling atom, the resulting electron may be detected even if the nuclear recoil is unobservable. We demonstrate that including this effect significantly enhances direct detection sensitivity to sub-GeV DM. Existing experiments set world-leading limits, and future experiments may probe the cross sections relevant for thermal freeze-out.
The direct detection of Dark Matter particles with mass below the GeV-scale is hampered by soft nuclear recoil energies and finite detector thresholds. For a given maximum relative velocity, the kinematics of elastic Dark Matter nucleus scattering sets a principal limit on detectability. Here we propose to bypass the kinematic limitations by considering the inelastic channel of photon emission in the nuclear recoil. Our proposed method allows to set the first limits on Dark Matter below 500 MeV in the plane of Dark Matter mass and cross section with nucleons. In situations where a Dark Matter-…
Measurement of medium-induced acoplanarity in central Au-Au and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=200$ GeV using direct-photon+jet and $π^{0}$+jet correlations
We report measurements of jet quenching in $Au+Au$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV, based on the semi-inclusive distribution of reconstructed charged particle jets recoiling from a high $p_T$ hadron trigger. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-k$_T$ algorithm ($R$=0.2 to 0.5), with low IR-cutoff of track constituents ($p_{T}>0.2$ GeV/c). Uncorrelated background is corrected using a novel mixed-event technique, with no fragmentation bias imposed by the correction procedure on the accepted recoil jet population. Corrected recoil jet distributions, reported in the range $0<p_{T,jet}^{ch}<3…
We study in detail sub-GeV dark matter scattering off electrons in xenon, including the expected electron recoil spectra and annual modulation spectra. We derive improved constraints using low-energy XENON10 and XENON100 ionization-only data. For XENON10, in addition to including electron-recoil data corresponding to about $1-3$ electrons, we include for the first time events with $\gtrsim 4$ electrons. Assuming the scattering is momentum independent, this strengthens a previous cross-section bound by almost an order of magnitude for dark matter masses above 50 MeV. The available XENON100 data…
Taking liquid xenon detectors as a case study, the importance of a robust recoil energy calibration as a prerequisite to a search for light-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) is emphasized. Important shortfalls in the analysis of existing measurements of the relative scintillation efficiency and ionization yield for nuclear recoils in liquid xenon are described, leading to the conclusion that recent attempts to extract light-WIMP sensitivity limits from the XENON10 and XENON100 detectors are premature and overly optimistic.
We study the possibility that dark radiation, sourced through the decay of dark matter in the late Universe, carries electromagnetic interactions. The relativistic flux of particles induces recoil signals in direct detection and neutrino experiments through its interaction with millicharge, electric/magnetic dipole moments, or anapole moment/charge radius. Taking the DM lifetime as 35 times the age of the Universe, as currently cosmologically allowed, we show that direct detection (neutrino) experiments have complementary sensitivity down to $ε\sim 10^{-11}$ $(10^{-12})$, $d_χ/μ_χ\sim 10^{-9}\…
In this article, as an extension of our study on the angular distribution of the recoil flux of WIMP-scattered target nuclei, we demonstrate a possibility of determining the mass of incident halo WIMPs by using or combining "ridge-crater" structures of the angular recoil-energy spectra with different target nuclei observed in directional direct Dark Matter detection experiments. Our simulation results show that, for a WIMP mass of only a few tens GeV, the stereoscopic angular recoil-flux distributions of both of light and heavy target nuclei would have a (longitudinally) "ridge-like" structure…
We propose to use high-purity lab-grown diamond for the detection of sub-GeV dark matter. Diamond targets can be sensitive to both nuclear and electron recoils from dark matter scattering in the MeV and above mass range, as well as to absorption processes of dark matter with masses between sub-eV to 10's of eV. Compared to other proposed semiconducting targets such as germanium and silicon, diamond detectors can probe lower dark matter masses via nuclear recoils due to the lightness of the carbon nucleus. The expected reach for electron recoils is comparable to that of germanium and silicon, w…
Due to the low nuclear recoils, sub-GeV dark matter (DM) is usually beyond the sensitivity of the conventional DM direct detection experiments. The boosted and Migdal scattering mechanisms have been proposed as two new complementary avenues to search for light DM. In this work, we consider the momentum-transfer effect in the DM-nucleus scattering to derive the new bounds on sub-GeV DM for these two scenarios. We show that such an effect is sizable so that the existing bounds on the DM-nucleus scattering cross section can be improved significantly.
We point out a new type of diurnal effect for the cosmic ray boosted dark matter (DM). The DM-nucleon interactions not only allow the direct detection of DM with nuclear recoils, but also allow cosmic rays to scatter with and boost the nonrelativistic DM to higher energies. If the DM-nuclei scattering cross sections are sufficiently large, the DM flux is attenuated as it propagates through the Earth, leading to a strong diurnal modulation. This diurnal modulation provides another prominent signature for the direct detection of boosted sub-GeV DM, in addition to signals with higher recoil energ…
Probing low mass (sub-GeV -- few GeV) Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) candidates of dark matter through WIMP-induced nuclear recoils in direct detection experiments requires use of detector materials consisting of low mass target nuclei and low threshold energy. Here we explore the potential of superheated liquid detectors (SLD) with a hydrogen containing liquid, namely, tetrafluoroethane (C$_{2}$H$_{2}$F$_{4}$) (b.p.~$-26.3^\circ\,$C), as the target material for probing low mass WIMPs. It is found that few-keV level recoil energy thresholds possible for bubble nucleation by WIMP-in…
We present two measurements related to jet production in p+p and central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{{s}_{NN}}$=200 GeV. Firstly, a study of semi-inclusive charged recoil jets coincident with high-$\rm{p_{T}}$ direct-photon and neutral pions, and secondly, the hadron correlations with respect to reconstructed di-jet triggers. Indication of medium effects is observed by comparing $γ$+jet and $π^{0}$+jet measurements. The di-jet+hadron study shows signs that the medium-induced modifications of an imbalanced set of di-jets with "hard cores" primarily affect the recoil jet.
Direct detection of Sub-GeV dark matter (DM) is challenging because the recoil energy of the nuclei or electron from the elastic scattering of a sub-GeV DM off the target can hardly reach the detector threshold. In this paper, we present a new direct detection strategy for sub-GeV DM via the three-body inelastic scattering process, $χ+ χ+ {\rm SM} \to η+ {\rm SM}$, where $χ$ is DM candidate and $η$ is either a DM composite state or any dark radiation. This process is common for a large class of DM models without presuming particular thermal history in the early Universe. The typical signature …
We present a particle physics model to explain the observed enhancement in the Xenon-1T data at an electron recoil energy of 2.5 keV. The model is based on a $U(1)$ extension of the Standard Model where the dark sector consists of two essentially mass degenerate Dirac fermions in the sub-GeV region with a small mass splitting interacting with a dark photon. The dark photon is unstable and decays before the big bang nucleosynthesis, which leads to the dark matter constituted of two essentially mass degenerate Dirac fermions. The Xenon-1T excess is computed via the inelastic exothermic scatterin…
Recently, the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration released updated results from their search for the annual modulation signal from Dark Matter (DM) scattering in the detector. Besides approximately doubling the exposure of the DAMA/LIBRA data set, the updated photomultiplier tubes of the experiment allow a lower recoil energy threshold of 1\,keV electron equivalent compared to the previous threshold of 2 keV electron equivalent. We study the compatibility of the observed modulation signal with DM scattering. Due to a conspiracy of multiple effects, the new data at low recoil energies is very powerful for…
Direct detection of dark matter with directional sensitivity is a promising concept for improving the search for weakly interacting massive particles. With information on the direction of WIMP induced nuclear recoils one has access to the full 3-dimensional velocity distribution of the local dark matter halo and thus a potential avenue for studying WIMP astrophysics. Furthermore the unique angular signature of the WIMP recoil distribution provides a crucial discriminant from neutrinos which currently represent the ultimate background to direct detection experiments.
The Sub-Electron-Noise Skipper CCD Experimental Instrument (SENSEI) uses the recently developed Skipper-CCD technology to search for electron recoils from the interaction of sub-GeV dark matter particles with electrons in silicon. We report first results from a prototype SENSEI detector, which collected 0.019 gram-days of commissioning data above ground at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. These commissioning data are sufficient to set new direct-detection constraints for dark matter particles with masses between ~500 keV and 4 MeV. Moreover, since these data were taken on the surface, th…
Motivated by the recent interest in light WIMPs of mass ~O(10 GeV), an extension of the elastic, spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section limits resulting from the CRESST-II commissioning run (2007) are presented. Previously, these data were used to set cross-section limits from 1000 GeV down to ~17 GeV, using tungsten recoils, in 47.9 kg-days of exposure of calcium tungstate. Here, the overlap of the oxygen and calcium bands with the acceptance region of the commissioning run data set is reconstructed using previously published quenching factors. The resulting elastic WIMP cross section li…
We present a first calculation of the rate for plasmon production in semiconductors from nuclei recoiling against dark matter. The process is analogous to bremsstrahlung of transverse photon modes, but with a longitudinal plasmon mode emitted instead. For dark matter in the 10 MeV - 1 GeV mass range, we find that the plasmon bremsstrahlung rate is 4-5 orders of magnitude smaller than that for elastic scattering, but 4-5 orders of magnitude larger than the transverse bremsstrahlung rate. Because the plasmon can decay into electronic excitations and has characteristic energy given by the plasma …
We present the form factors of the $B\toπ,ρ$ transitions induced by the $b\to u$ quark currents at all kinematically accessible $q^2$. Our analysis is based on the spectral representations of the form factors within the constituent quark picture: we fix the soft meson wave functions and the constituent quark masses by fitting $A_1(q^2)$ and $T_2(q^2)$ to the lattice results at small recoils ($17\lesssim q^2\lesssim 20 GeV^2$). We then calculate the $B\toπ,ρ$ transition form factors down to $q^2=0$. For the $B\toπ$ case the region $q^2\lesssim 20 GeV^2$ however does not cover the whole kinemati…
Probing Cosmic-Ray-Boosted and Supernova-Sourced Sub-GeV Dark Matter with Paleo-Detectors
International Centre for Theoretical Physics Asia-Pacific (ICTP-AP), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（国际理论物理中心亚太分部，中国科学院大学）；Key Laboratory of DM and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（暗物质与空间天文重点实验室，中国科学院紫金山天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学天文与空间科学学院）；Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical Physics, Nanjing Normal University（南京师范大学物理系和理论物理研究所）
Now that conventional weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches are approaching the neutrino floor, there has been a resurgence of interest in detectors with sensitivity to nuclear recoil directions. A large-scale directional detector is attractive in that it would have sensitivity below the neutrino floor, be capable of unambiguously establishing the galactic origin of a purported dark matter signal, and could serve a dual purpose as a neutrino observatory. We present the first detailed analysis of a 1000 m$^3$-scale detector capable of measuring a directional nuclear re…
This letter presents a study of the inclusive production of X$\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ plus a recoil, using simulated samples of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV for an integrated luminosity in the range between 30 fb$^{-1}$ to 3 ab$^{-1}$. The case for experiments to include un-prescaled $b$-tag multijet triggers for this topology is made and the ideal jet thresholds are discussed. The sensitivity to Standard Model Higgs with a transverse momentum of at least 200 GeV is evaluated with respect to a continuous background, dominated by multijet processes. The mass of $b$-jet-pairs is analysed, …
The XENON1T experiment has recently announced the observation of an excess in electron recoil events at energy range of $1-7$ keV with a $3.5~σ$ signal significance over the Standard Model prediction. In this letter we sketch the prospects of explaining such an excess from Migdal ionization events with below threshold nuclear recoil energies. Interestingly, these are expected to show signal events in the ballpark energy scale of the observed excess. We demonstrate that the observed signal can be reproduced through the Migdal effect by an $\mathcal{O}(1)$ GeV neutron-philic dark matter having a…
The primary advantage of moderately superheated bubble chamber detectors is their simultaneous sensitivity to nuclear recoils from WIMP dark matter and insensitivity to electron recoil backgrounds. A comprehensive analysis of PICO gamma calibration data demonstrates for the first time that electron recoils in C$_3$F$_8$ scale in accordance with a new nucleation mechanism, rather than one driven by a hot-spike as previously supposed. Using this semi-empirical model, bubble chamber nucleation thresholds may be tuned to be sensitive to lower energy nuclear recoils while maintaining excellent elec…
Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) is a simple and well-motivated scenario that could explain long-standing puzzles in structure formation on small scales. If the required self-interaction arises through a light mediator (with mass $\sim 10$ MeV) in the dark sector, this new particle must be unstable to avoid overclosing the universe. The decay of the light mediator could happen due to a weak coupling of the hidden and visible sectors, providing new signatures for direct detection experiments. The SIDM nuclear recoil spectrum is more peaked towards low energies compared to the usual case of c…
The XENON1T dark matter experiment recently reported 0.65 ton-year exposure measurement on electron recoils , which shows an excess in $2\sim 3$ KeV recoils above the detector background. In this paper we present a Pseudo-Dirac dark matter scenario to explain the excess via inelastic dark matter-electron scattering. With a KeV scale mass splitting between the two components of the Pseudo-Dirac dark matter, the slightly excited component can down-scatter on electrons. The desired dark matter masses are about 10 GeV with a 4 KeV mass-splitting and unity coupling to electrons, which generate the …
New techniques for the laboratory direct detection of dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are sensitive to the recoil direction of the struck nuclei. We compute and compare the directional recoil rates ${dR}/{d\cosθ}$ (where $θ$ is the angle measured from a reference direction in the sky) for several WIMP velocity distributions including the standard dark halo and anisotropic models such as Sikivie's late-infall halo model and logarithmic-ellipsoidal models. Since some detectors may be unable to distinguish the beginning of the recoil track from its end (lack of head-tail …
Dark matter might be in the form of a dark plasma in the Milky Way halo. Specifically, we consider here a hidden sector consisting of a light `dark electron' and a much heavier `dark proton', each charged under an unbroken $U(1)'$ gauge symmetry. These self-interacting dark sector particles can also interact with ordinary matter via the kinetic mixing interaction, and lead to a signal in dark matter direct detection experiments. Indeed, keV electron recoils can arise quite naturally in such models from dark electron scattering off loosely bound atomic electrons. Here we examine the recently re…
The usual nuclear recoil energy reconstruction employed by liquid xenon dark matter search experiments relies only on the primary scintillation photon signal. Energy reconstruction based on both the photon and electron signals yields a more accurate representation of search results. For a dark matter particle mass m~10 GeV, a nuclear recoil from a scattering event is more likely to be observed in the lower left corner of the typical search box, rather than near the nuclear recoil calibration centroid. In this region of the search box, the actual nuclear recoil energies are smaller than the usu…
LZ Nuclear-Recoil Excess from Boosted Light Magnetic Dipole-dipole Dark Matter
Wuyi University（五邑大学）；Nanjing University（南京大学）；National Taiwan University（台湾大学）；Phenikaa University（菲尼亚卡大学）；University of Oslo（奥斯陆大学）；University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校）
Cosmological observations indicate that most of the matter in the Universe is Dark Matter. Dark Matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) can be detected directly, via its elastic scattering off target nuclei. Most current direct detection experiments only measure the energy of the recoiling nuclei. However, directional detection experiments are sensitive to the direction of the nuclear recoil as well. Due to the Sun's motion with respect to the Galactic rest frame, the directional recoil rate has a dipole feature, peaking around the direction of the Solar motion. This…
Liquid xenon detectors such as XENON10 and XENON100 obtain a significant fraction of their sensitivity to light (<10 GeV) particle dark matter by looking for nuclear recoils of only a few keV, just above the detector threshold. Yet in this energy regime a correct treatment of the detector threshold and resolution remains unclear. The energy dependence of the scintillation yield of liquid xenon for nuclear recoils also bears heavily on detector sensitivity, yet numerous measurements have not succeeded in obtaining concordant results. In this article we show that the ratio of detected ionization…
The XENON1T collaboration recently reported an excess in electron recoil events in the energy range between $1-7\,\mathrm{keV}$. This excess could be understood to originate from the known solar neutrino flux, if neutrinos couple to a light vector-mediator with strength $g_{νN}$ that kinetically mixes with the photon with strength $χ$, and $g_{νN}χ\sim10^{-13}$. Here, we show that such coupling values can naturally arise in a renormalizable model of long-range vector-mediated neutrino self-interactions. The model could be discriminated from other explanations of the XENON1T excess by the chara…
One of the next frontiers in dark-matter direct-detection experiments is to explore 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 introduce 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 …
Existing xenon dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments can probe the DM-nucleon interaction of DM with a sub-GeV mass through a search for photon emission from the recoiling xenon atom. We show that LUX's constraints on sub-GeV DM, which utilise the scintillation (S1) and ionisation (S2) signals, are approximately three orders of magnitude more stringent than previous xenon constraints in this mass range, derived from the XENON10 and XENON100 S2-only searches. The new LUX constraints provide the most stringent direct detection constraints for DM particles with a mass below 0.5 GeV. In ad…
It is shown that weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are possible cold dark matter candidates, can be studied by exclusive measurements of X-rays following WIMPs nuclear interactions. Inner-shell atomic electrons are ionized through WIMP-nuclear interaction, and then mono-energetic X-rays are emitted when they are filled by outer-shell electrons. The number of inner-shell holes amounts to as large as one per five nuclear recoils for K-shell and several per recoil for L-shell in the case of medium heavy target nuclei interacting with 100-300 GeV WIMPs. Then the K and L X-ray pea…
