English

Ab initio structure factors for spin-dependent dark matter direct detection

Nuclear Theory 2022-02-21 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Experiment High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Nuclear Experiment

Abstract

We present converged ab initio calculations of structure factors for elastic spin-dependent WIMP scattering off all nuclei used in dark matter direct-detection searches: 19^{19}F, 23^{23}Na, 27^{27}Al, 29^{29}Si, 73^{73}Ge, 127^{127}I, and 129,131^{129,131}Xe. From a set of established two- and three-nucleon interactions derived within chiral effective field theory, we construct consistent WIMP-nucleon currents at the one-body level, including effects from axial-vector two-body currents. We then apply the in-medium similarity renormalization group to construct effective valence-space Hamiltonians and consistently transformed operators of nuclear responses. Combining the recent advances of natural orbitals with three-nucleon forces expressed in large spaces, we obtain basis-space converged structure factors even in heavy nuclei. Generally results are consistent with previous calculations, but large uncertainties in 127^{127}I highlight the need for further study.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.00193,
  title  = {Ab initio structure factors for spin-dependent dark matter direct detection},
  author = {B. S. Hu and J. Padua-Argüelles and S. Leutheusser and T. Miyagi and S. R. Stroberg and J. D. Holt},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.00193},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

6 pages, 3 figures, supplemental material included

R2 v1 2026-06-24T05:35:06.933Z