Related papers: Can dark matter - electron scattering explain the …
Underground searches for dark matter involve a complicated interplay of particle physics, nuclear physics, atomic physics and astrophysics. We attempt to remove the uncertainties associated with astrophysics by developing the means to map…
Sub-GeV dark matter (DM) which interacts with electrons can excite electrons occupying molecular orbitals in a scattering event. In particular, aromatic compounds such as benzene or xylene have an electronic excitation energy of a few eV,…
We discuss the positive indications of a possible dark matter signal in direct detection experiments in terms of a mechanism of interaction between the dark matter particle and the nuclei occurring via the exchange of a light mediator,…
The interaction rate of hypothesised dark matter particles in an Earth-bound detector is expected to undergo an annual modulation due to the planet's orbital motion. The DAMA experiment has observed such a modulation with high significance…
Inelastic dark matter reconciles the DAMA anomaly with other null direct detection experiments and points to a non-minimal structure in the dark matter sector. In addition to the dominant inelastic interaction, dark matter scattering may…
Aromatic organic compounds, because of their small excitation energies ~ O(few eV) and scintillating properties, are promising targets for detecting dark matter of mass ~ O(few MeV). Additionally, their planar molecular structures lead to…
In this paper, we study the recent excess of low energy events observed by the CoGeNT collaboration, and discuss the possibility that these events originate from the elastic scattering of a light (m_DM ~ 5-10 GeV) dark matter particle. We…
The self consistency between the impressive DAMA annual modulation signal and the differential energy spectrum is an important test for dark matter candidates.Mirror matter-type dark matter passes this test while other dark matter…
It has recently been demonstrated that, in the event of a putative signal in dark matter direct detection experiments, properly identifying the underlying dark matter-nuclei interaction promises to be a challenging task. Given the most…
The current paradigm for dark matter direct detection is to assume that the dark sector is solely composed of a single particle species. In this short paper, we make the observation that dark matter comprising both a light and a heavy…
Claims by the DAMA (DArk MAtter) collaboration to have detected an annually varying signal consistent with models of dark matter appear to be at variance with results from other dark-matter searches. To further understand the DAMA results,…
Recently, the XENON1T experiment has reported the possible detection of an excess in the electronic recoil spectrum. Such an excess may indicate the presence of new physics. In this work, we suggest that the scattering of mirror electrons…
The inelastic dark matter scenario was proposed to reconcile the DAMA annual modulation with null results from other experiments. In this scenario, WIMPs scatter into an excited state, split from the ground state by an energy delta…
Recently, the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration has repeated and reinforced their claim to have detected an annual modulation in their signal rate, and have interpreted this observation as evidence for dark-matter particles at the 8.2 sigma…
We study the effect of gravitational focusing of the earth on dark matter. We find that the effect can produce a detectable diurnal modulation in the dark matter signal for part of the parameter space which for high dark matter masses is…
If dark matter (DM) particles are lighter than a few MeV/$c^2$ and can scatter off electrons, their interaction within the solar interior results in a considerable hardening of the spectrum of galactic dark matter received on Earth. For a…
We reexamine the interpretation of the annual modulation signal observed by the DAMA experiment as due to WIMPs with a spin-dependent coupling mostly to protons. We consider both axial-vector and pseudo-scalar couplings, and elastic as well…
The landscape of dark matter direct detection has been profoundly altered by the slew of recent experiments. While some have claimed signals consistent with dark matter, others have seen few, if any, events consistent with dark matter. The…
Many experiments seek dark matter by detecting relatively low energy nuclear recoils. Yet since events from ordinary physics with energies in the 1-100 KeV range are commonplace, all claims of signals or their absence hinge on exhaustive…
We study whether spin-independent scattering of weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with nuclei can account for the annual modulation signal reported by DAMA. We consider both elastic and inelastic scattering processes. We find…