Abstract
The field of dark matter detection is a highly visible and highly competitive one. In this paper, we propose recommendations for presenting dark matter direct detection results particularly suited for weak-scale dark matter searches, although we believe the spirit of the recommendations can apply more broadly to searches for other dark matter candidates, such as very light dark matter or axions. To translate experimental data into a final published result, direct detection collaborations must make a series of choices in their analysis, ranging from how to model astrophysical parameters to how to make statistical inferences based on observed data. While many collaborations follow a standard set of recommendations in some areas, for example the expected flux of dark matter particles (to a large degree based on a paper from Lewin and Smith in 1995), in other areas, particularly in statistical inference, they have taken different approaches, often from result to result by the same collaboration. We set out a number of recommendations on how to apply the now commonly used Profile Likelihood Ratio method to direct detection data. In addition, updated recommendations for the Standard Halo Model astrophysical parameters and relevant neutrino fluxes are provided. The authors of this note include members of the DAMIC, DarkSide, DARWIN, DEAP, LZ, NEWS-G, PandaX, PICO, SBC, SENSEI, SuperCDMS, and XENON collaborations, and these collaborations provided input to the recommendations laid out here. Wide-spread adoption of these recommendations will make it easier to compare and combine future dark matter results.
Highlights
Introduction and purpose of this paperThe nature of dark matter (DM) is one of the highest-priority topics in high energy particle physics
Our approach is similar in spirit to that of the ATLAS and CMS experiments in the period prior to the discovery of the Higgs, when the two collaborations agreed in advance on what statistical treatment to use in combining Higgs data sets [11], we make different recommendations that we feel are more appropriate for our application
Direct dark matter searches most often take the hypothesis under test to be a signal model at a single dark matter mass, M, and 2D curves are constructed by computing significance and confidence intervals for each mass separately
Summary
The nature of dark matter (DM) is one of the highest-priority topics in high energy particle physics. We take the opportunity to make updated recommendations for modeling the distribution of dark matter in our galaxy, as well as to discuss neutrino backgrounds that will be observed by many experiments in the near future. Our approach is similar in spirit to that of the ATLAS and CMS experiments in the period prior to the discovery of the Higgs, when the two collaborations agreed in advance on what statistical treatment to use in combining Higgs data sets [11], we make different recommendations that we feel are more appropriate for our application In writing this white paper, we recognize the large influence of chance when analysing dark matter data; due to the low backgrounds, the expected statistical fluctuations for direct detection upper limits are around twice as large as those in the Higgs discovery [12,13].
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