Abstract
We show that dark matter with a per-nucleon scattering cross section $\gtrsim 10^{-28}~{\rm cm^2}$ could be discovered by liquid scintillator neutrino detectors like BOREXINO, SNO+, and JUNO. Due to the large dark matter fluxes admitted, these detectors could find dark matter with masses up to $10^{21}$ GeV, surpassing the mass sensitivity of current direct detection experiments (such as XENON1T and PICO) by over two orders of magnitude. We derive the spin-independent and spin-dependent cross section sensitivity of these detectors using existing selection triggers, and propose an improved trigger program that enhances this sensitivity by two orders of magnitude. We interpret these sensitivities in terms of three dark matter scenarios: (1) effective contact operators for scattering, (2) QCD-charged dark matter, and (3) a recently proposed model of Planck-mass baryon-charged dark matter. We calculate the flux attenuation of dark matter at these detectors due to the earth overburden, taking into account the earth's density profile and elemental composition, and nuclear spins.
Highlights
Despite ongoing experimental inquiry, the characteristics and couplings of dark matter remain a compelling puzzle
In this paper we show how dark matter may be discovered by looking for multiple-scatter nuclear recoil events at large volume liquid scintillator experiments, which are traditionally used to detect solar neutrinos with MeV energies
This document has shown that large volume liquid scintillator neutrino detectors stand at the vanguard of superheavy dark matter detection
Summary
The characteristics and couplings of dark matter remain a compelling puzzle. Other proposed searches for dark matter that deposits enough energy to exceed the ∼MeV threshold of neutrino detectors include dark matter that destroys target baryons [12,13,14,15], yields annihilation or decay products detectable in these experiments [16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26], deposits its entire (mass þ kinetic) energy [27], is produced at highintensity accelerators or radioactive sources [28], is accelerated by astrophysical sources [29], or is bounced off energetic cosmic rays [30,31] All of these approaches (except for the last one) require specific models with a number of massive dark sector states.
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