Related papers: The coherent photon scattering background in sub-G…
High-energy photons with $\mathcal{O}$(MeV) energies from radioactive contaminants can scatter in a solid-state target material and constitute an important low-energy background for sub-GeV dark matter direct-detection searches. This…
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…
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…
Diverse searches for direct dark matter (DM) in effective electromagnetic and leptophilic interactions resulting from new physics, as well as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with unconventional electronic recoils, are…
We study the question of whether coherent neutrino scattering can occur on macroscopic scales, leading to a significant increase of the detection cross section. We concentrate on radiative neutrino scattering on atomic electrons (or on free…
Low-threshold dark matter detectors, in particular cryogenic detectors based on dielectric materials, are among the best tools for probing sub-GeV dark matter masses. In the coming years detectors of this type will become sensitive to solar…
Direct detection strategies are proposed for dark matter particles with MeV to GeV mass. In this largely unexplored mass range, dark matter scattering with electrons can cause single-electron ionization signals, which are detectable with…
Low-energy Compton scattering is an important background for sub-GeV dark matter direct-detection and other experiments. Current Compton scattering calculations typically rely on assumptions that are not valid in the low-energy region of…
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…
If dark matter consists of hidden-sector photons which kinetically mix with regular photons, a tiny oscillating electric-field component is present wherever we have dark matter. In the surface of conducting materials this induces a small…
We describe a novel search for MeV-to-GeV-mass dark matter, in which the dark matter scatters off electrons in a scintillating target. The excitation and subsequent de-excitation of the electron produces one or more photons, which could be…
Recent progress in phonon-mediated detectors with eV-scale nuclear recoil energy sensitivity requires an understanding of the effect of the crystalline defects on the energy spectrum expected from dark matter or neutrino coherent…
We consider current observational constraints on the electromagnetic charge of dark matter. The velocity dependence of the scattering cross-section through the photon gives rise to qualitatively different constraints than standard dark…
Dark matter experiments primarily search for the scattering of WIMPs on target nuclei of well shielded underground detectors. The results from liquid scintillator experiments furthermore provide precise probes of very light and very weakly…
We calculate the scattering rate of sub-GeV dark matter in solid-state targets for spin-dependent dark matter -- nucleon interactions. For dark matter particles with mass below 100 MeV, the scattering occurs predominantly through incoherent…
We revisit the detection of luminous dark matter in direct detection experiments. In this scenario, dark matter scatters endothermically to produce an excited state, which decays to produce a photon. We explore ways in which the electron…
All attempts to directly detect particle dark matter (DM) scattering on nuclei suffer from the partial or total loss of sensitivity for DM masses in the GeV range or below. We derive novel constraints from the inevitable existence of a…
We report on recent progress in the search for dark matter particles with masses from 1 MeV to 1 GeV. Several dark matter candidates in this mass range are expected to generate measurable electronic-recoil signals in direct-detection…
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…
We propose a search for low mass dark matter particles through momentum recoils caused by their scattering from trapped, nm-scale objects. Our projections show that even with a modest array of fg-mass sensors, parameter-space beyond the…