Related papers: The Molecular Migdal Effect
The elastic scattering of an atomic nucleus plays a central role in dark matter direct detection experiments. In those experiments, it is usually assumed that the atomic electrons around the nucleus of the target material immediately follow…
Dark matter scattering off a nucleus has a small probability of inducing an observable ionization through the inelastic excitation of an electron, called the Migdal effect. We use an effective field theory to extend the computation of the…
When a nucleus in an atom undergoes a collision, there is a small probability to inelastically excite an electron as a result of the Migdal effect. In this Letter, we present a first complete derivation of the Migdal effect from dark…
The Migdal effect is a key inelastic signal channel which could be used to detect low-mass dark matter, but it has never been observed experimentally using Standard Model probes. Here we propose a conceptual design for an experiment which…
Dark matter direct detection experiments have limited sensitivity to light dark matter (below a few GeV), due to the challenges of lowering energy thresholds for the detection of nuclear recoil to below $\mathcal{O}(\mathrm{keV})$. While…
The scattering of neutral particles by an atomic nucleus can lead to electronic ionisation and excitation through a process known as the Migdal effect. We revisit and improve upon previous calculations of the Migdal effect, using the…
There are currently several existing and proposed experiments designed to probe sub-GeV dark matter (DM) using electron ionization in various materials. The projected signal rates for these experiments assume that this ionization yield…
We propose a new mechanism of absorption of dark matter particles in atoms which resembles the Migdal effect of inelastic dark matter scattering. In this process, atom may be ionized upon absorption of a scalar particle through the…
Recent studies have theoretically investigated the atomic excitation and ionization induced by the dark matter (DM)-nucleus scattering, and it is found that the suddenly recoiled atom is much more likely to excite or lose its electrons than…
The Migdal effect in semiconductors, prompt ionization from a primary nuclear scattering event, can be described across all kinematic regimes using an effective field theory that encodes the complex vibrational and electronic degrees of…
We present the Migdal In Galactic Dark mAtter expLoration (MIGDAL) experiment aiming at the unambiguous observation and study of the so-called Migdal effect induced by fast-neutron scattering. It is hoped that this elusive atomic process…
Halo dark matter (DM) particles could lose energy due to the scattering off nuclei within the Earth before reaching the underground detectors of DM direct detection experiments. This Earth shielding effect can result in diurnal modulation…
The Migdal effect has received much attention from the dark matter direct detection community, in particular due to its power in setting limits on sub-GeV particle dark matter. Currently, there is no experimental confirmation of the Migdal…
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…
Optically dense clouds in the interstellar medium composed predominantly of molecular hydrogen, known as molecular clouds, are sensitive to energy injection in the form of photon absorption, cosmic-ray scattering, and dark matter (DM)…
Recent measurements of the germanium quenching factor deviate significantly from the predictions of the standard Lindhard model for nuclear recoil energies below a keV. This departure may be explained by the Migdal effect in neutron…
In this work, we introduce the theoretical framework of the phonon-mediated Migdal effect for neutrino-nucleus scattering in semiconductors, considering both the Standard Model and the presence of the neutrino magnetic moment. We calculate…
A key strategy for the direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter is to search for small ionization signals. These can arise from dark matter-electron scattering or when the dark matter-nucleus scattering process is accompanied by a "Migdal"…
Recent theoretical studies have suggested that the suddenly recoiled atom struck by dark matter (DM) particle is much more likely to excite or lose its electrons than expected. Such Migdal effect provides a new avenue for exploring the…
Migdal effect is attracting interests because of the potential to enhance the sensitivities of direct dark matter searches to the low mass region. In spite of its great importance, the Migdal effect has not been experimentally observed yet.…