DM-nucleon Scattering Cross Section Research Articles

Deep inelastic scattering in the capture of dark matter by neutron stars

Because of the dense environment, neutron stars (NSs) can serve as an ideal laboratory for studying the interactions between dark matter (DM) and ordinary matter. In the process of DM capture, deep inelastic scattering may dominate over elastic scattering, especially for the DM with a large momentum transfer. In this work, we calculate DM-nucleon deep inelastic scattering via a vector mediator and estimate its contribution to the capture rate. Using the surface temperature of the NSs, we derive the exclusion limits for the DM-nucleon scattering cross section in the mass range 1 GeV<mχ<105 GeV. We find the bounds for DM with the mass ≳1 GeV can be changed several times after including the deep inelastic scattering contribution. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Search for Dark Matter Ionization on the Night Side of Jupiter with Cassini.

We present a new search for dark matter (DM) using planetary atmospheres. We point out that annihilating DM in planets can produce ionizing radiation, which can lead to excess production of ionospheric H_{3}^{+}. We apply this search strategy to the night side of Jupiter near the equator. The night side has zero solar irradiation, and low latitudes are sufficiently far from ionizing auroras, leading to a low-background search. We use Cassini data on ionospheric H_{3}^{+} emission collected three hours either side of Jovian midnight, during its flyby in 2000, and set novel constraints on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section down to about 10^{-38} cm^{2}. We also highlight that DM atmospheric ionization may be detected in Jovian exoplanets using future high-precision measurements of planetary spectra.

A model of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone dark matter with two complex scalars

Pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone (pNG) dark matter (DM) is a promising DM candidate and able to explain the measured DM abundance by the thermal freeze-out mechanism evading the stringent bound from DM direct detection experiments. We propose a new model providing a pNG DM by introducing two Standard-Model-singlet complex scalars with the same charges of a dark U(1) gauge symmetry. They are also charged under a U(1) global symmetry corresponding to their relative phase rotations, which is explicitly broken by a soft-breaking term in the scalar potential. The both U(1) symmetries are spontaneously broken by their vacuum expectation values, giving rise to one real pNG boson. We also introduce a discrete ℤ2 symmetry exchanging the two scalars to stabilize the pNG boson as DM. It is shown that this model reproduces the DM abundance consistently with the current bound from the direct detection experiments. The model has a gauge kinetic mixing between the dark and U(1)Y gauge fields, which allows the dark gauge boson to decay even with a relatively light mass and prevents it from being an additional DM component. The Landau pole is avoided thanks to the small gauge coupling constant. In addition, a DM pair dominantly annihilates into a pair of the dark gauge bosons if the gauge boson mass is lighter than the DM mass, and thus its cross section has significantly different parameter dependence from other pNG DM models. We also calculate the DM-nucleon scattering cross section at the loop level. It turns out that it is necessary to probe region covered by the neutrino fog in order to test this model.

Diurnal modulation of electron recoils from DM-nucleon scattering through the Migdal effect

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 of the DM-induced recoil event rates observed underground due to the self-rotation of the Earth. For electron recoil signals from DM-electron scatterings, the current experimental constraints are very stringent such that the diurnal modulation cannot be observed for halo DM. We propose a novel type of diurnal modulation effect: diurnal modulation in electron recoil signals induced by DM-nucleon scattering via the Migdal effect. We set so far the most stringent constraints on DM-nucleon scattering cross section via the Migdal effect for sub-GeV DM using the S2-only data of PandaX-II and PandaX-4T with improved simulations of the Earth shielding effect. Based on the updated constraints, we show that the Migdal effect induced diurnal modulation of electron events can still be significant in the low energy region, and can be probed by experiments such as PandaX-4T in the near future.

Lepton flavor violation and scotogenic Majorana neutrino mass in a Stueckelberg U(1)X model

We construct a scotogenic Majorana neutrino mass model in a gauged U(1)X extension of the standard model, where the mass of the gauge boson and the unbroken gauge symmetry, which leads to a stable dark matter (DM), can be achieved through the Stueckelberg mechanism. It is found that the simplest version of the extended model consists of the two inert-Higgs doublets and one vector-like singlet fermion. In addition to the Majorana neutrino mass, we study the lepton flavor violation (LFV) processes, such as ℓi → ℓjγ, ℓi → 3ℓj, μ − e conversion rate in nucleus, and muonium-antimuonium oscillation. We show that the sensitivities of μ → 3e and μ − e conversion rate designed in Mu3e and COMET/Mu2e experiments make both decays the most severe constraints on the μ → e LFV processes. It is found that τ → μγ and τ → 3μ can reach the designed significance level of Belle II. In addition to explaining the DM relic density, we also show that the DM-nucleon scattering cross section can satisfy the currently experimental limit of DM direct detection.

Evaporation of dark matter from celestial bodies

Scatterings of galactic dark matter (DM) particles with the constituents of celestial bodies could result in their accumulation within these objects. Nevertheless, the finite temperature of the medium sets a minimum mass, the evaporation mass, that DM particles must have in order to remain trapped. DM particles below this mass are very likely to scatter to speeds higher than the escape velocity, so they would be kicked out of the capturing object and escape. Here, we compute the DM evaporation mass for all spherical celestial bodies in hydrostatic equilibrium, spanning the mass range [10-10 - 102] M⊙, for constant scattering cross sections and s-wave annihilations. We illustrate the critical importance of the exponential tail of the evaporation rate, which has not always been appreciated in recent literature, and obtain a robust result: for the geometric value of the scattering cross section and for interactions with nucleons, at the local galactic position, the DM evaporation mass for all spherical celestial bodies in hydrostatic equilibrium is approximately given by Ec/Tχ ∼ 30, where Ec is the escape energy of DM particles at the core of the object and Tχ is their temperature. In that case, the minimum value of the DM evaporation mass is obtained for super-Jupiters and brown dwarfs, m evap ≃ 0.7 GeV. For other values of the scattering cross section, the DM evaporation mass only varies by a factor smaller than three within the range 10-41 cm2 ≤ σp ≤ 10-31 cm2, where σp is the spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering cross section. Its dependence on parameters such as the galactic DM density and velocity, or the scattering and annihilation cross sections is only logarithmic, and details on the density and temperature profiles of celestial bodies have also a small impact.

Production and attenuation of cosmic-ray boosted dark matter

Light sub-GeV halo dark matter (DM) particles up-scattered by high-energy cosmic-rays (CRs) (referred to as CRDM) can be energetic and become detectable by conventional DM direct detection experiments. We perform a refined analysis on the exclusion bounds of the spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering cross section σχ p in this approach. For the exclusion lower bounds, we determine the parameter of the effective distance Deff for CRDM production using spatial-dependent CR fluxes and including the contributions from the major heavy CR nuclear species. We obtain Deff≃ 9 kpc for CRDM particles with kinetic energy above ∼ 1 GeV, which pushes the corresponding exclusion lower bounds down to σχ p∼ 4× 10-32 cm2 for DM particle mass at MeV scale and below. For the exclusion upper bounds from Earth attenuation, previous estimations neglecting the nuclear form factor leaded to typical exclusion upper bounds of σχ p∼\U0001d4aa(10-28) cm2 from the XENON1T data. Using both the analytic and numerical approaches, we show that for CRDM particles, the presence of the nuclear form factor strongly suppresses the effect of Earth attenuation. Consequently, the cross section that can be excluded by the XENON1T data can be a few orders of magnitude higher, which closes the gap in the cross sections excluded by the XENON1T experiment and that by the astrophysical measurements such that for the cosmic microwave background (CMB), galactic gas cloud cooling, and structure formation, etc..

Implication of J/ψ→(γ+)invisible for the effective field theories of neutrino and dark matter

We study the implication of $J/\psi$ decay into invisible particles for light sterile neutrino and sub-GeV dark matter (DM). The low-energy effective field theories (EFTs) are used for the description of general neutrino interactions and the Dirac fermion DM coupled to charm quark. For $J/\psi\to \gamma+{\rm invisible}$, we perform the likelihood fits for the individual neutrino and DM operators with distinct Lorentz structures and photon spectra. The limits on the decay branching fractions are obtained for different neutrino or DM scenarios and then converted to the lower bounds on the new energy scales. The most stringent bounds on the energy scale in neutrino and DM EFTs are 12.8 GeV and 11.6 GeV, respectively. The purely invisible decay $J/\psi\to {\rm invisible}$ provides complementary constraints on the effective operators. The relevant bound on the energy scale is above 100 GeV for the dipole operators. We also evaluate the limit on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section converted from $J/\psi$ data. The data of $J/\psi$ invisible decays are sensitive to the light DM mass range where the DM direct detection experiments cannot probe yet. The future Super Tau Charm Factory after one year run can push the limits down by two orders of magnitude.

Constraining light dark matter upscattered by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

Light halo dark matter (DM) particles upscattered by high-energy cosmic rays (CRs) can be energetic, and become detectable by conventional direct detection experiments. The current constraints derived from space-based direct CR measurements can reach O(10−31) cm2 for a constant DM-nucleon scattering cross section. We show that if the CR energy spectrum follows a power law of type ∼E−3, the derived constraints on the scattering cross section will be highly insensitive to DM particle mass. This suggests that ultrahigh-energy CRs (UHECRs) indirectly measured by ground-based detectors can be used to place constraints on ultralight DM particles, as E−3 is a very good approximation of the UHECR energy spectrum up to energy ∼1020 eV. Using the recent UHECR flux data, we show that the current constraints derived from space-based CR measurements can in principle be extended to ultralight DM particles far below eV scale.

Vector dark matter from a gauged SU(2) symmetry

We propose a scenario of dark sector described by a hidden SU(2) gauge symmetry which is broken by a vacuum expectation value(VEV) of a scalar multiplet. We discuss a general mass relation among SU(2) gauge bosons after spontaneous symmetry breaking which is determined by weight of gauge group representation associated with a scalar multiplet developing VEV. Then a model with quintet and triplet scalar fields is discussed in which hidden gauge boson can be dark matter(DM) stabilized by remnant discrete Z2 symmetry and resonant dark matter annihilation is realized by mass relation between DM and mediator. We estimate relic density and spin independent DM-nucleon scattering cross section searching for allowed parameter region.

Celestial-body focused dark matter annihilation throughout the Galaxy

Indirect detection experiments typically measure the flux of annihilating dark matter (DM) particles propagating freely through galactic halos. We consider a new scenario where celestial bodies "focus" DM annihilation events, increasing the efficiency of halo annihilation. In this setup, DM is first captured by celestial bodies, such as neutron stars or brown dwarfs, and then annihilates within them. If DM annihilates to sufficiently long-lived particles, they can escape and subsequently decay into detectable radiation. This produces a distinctive annihilation morphology, which scales as the product of the DM and celestial body densities, rather than as DM density squared. We show that this signal can dominate over the halo annihilation rate in $\gamma$-ray observations in both the Milky Way Galactic center and globular clusters. We use \textit{Fermi} and H.E.S.S. data to constrain the DM-nucleon scattering cross section, setting powerful new limits down to $\sim10^{-39}~$cm$^2$ for sub-GeV DM using brown dwarfs, which is up to nine orders of magnitude stronger than existing limits. We demonstrate that neutron stars can set limits for TeV-scale DM down to about $10^{-47}~$cm$^2$.

Dark matter capture in celestial objects: light mediators, self-interactions, and complementarity with direct detection

We generalize the formalism for DM capture in celestial bodies to account for arbitrary mediator mass, and update the existing and projected astrophysical constraints on DM-nucleon scattering cross section from observations of neutron stars. We show that the astrophysical constraints on the DM-nucleon interaction strength, that were thought to be the most stringent, drastically weaken for light mediators and can be completely voided. For asymmetric DM, existing astrophysical constraints are completely washed out for mediators lighter than 5 MeV, and for annihilating DM the projected constraints are washed out for mediators lighter than 0.25 MeV. Related terrestrial direct detection bounds also weaken, but in a complementary fashion; they supersede the astrophysical capture bounds for small or large DM mass, respectively for asymmetric or annihilating DM. Repulsive self-interactions of DM have an insignificant impact on the total capture rate, but a significant impact on the black hole formation criterion. This further weakens the constraints on DM-nucleon interaction strength for asymmetric self-repelling DM, whereas constraints remain unaltered for annihilating self-repelling DM. We use the correct Hawking evaporation rate of the newly formed black hole, that was approximated as a blackbody in previous studies, and show that, despite a more extensive alleviation of collapse as a result, the observation of a neutron star collapse can probe a wide range of DM self-interaction strengths.

Search for dark matter particles produced in association with a Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{mathrm{s}} = 13 TeV

A search for dark matter (DM) particles is performed using events with a Higgs boson candidate and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on proton- proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The search is performed in five Higgs boson decay channels: mathrm{h}to mathrm{b}overline{mathrm{b}} , γγ, τ+τ−, W+W−, and ZZ. The results from the individual channels are combined to maximize the sensitivity of the analysis. No significant excess over the expected standard model background is observed in any of the five channels or in their combination. Limits are set on DM production in the context of two simplified models. The results are also interpreted in terms of a spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering cross section and compared to those from direct-detection DM experiments. This is the first search for DM particles produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of W or Z bosons, and the first statistical combination based on five Higgs boson decay channels.

Novel Direct Detection Constraints on Light Dark Matter.

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 subdominant, but highly energetic, component of DM generated through collisions with cosmic rays. Subsequent scattering inside conventional DM detectors, as well as neutrino detectors sensitive to nuclear recoils, limits the DM-nucleon scattering cross section to be below 10^{-31} cm^{2} for both spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering of light DM.

Current status of a natural NMSSM in light of LHC 13 TeV data and XENON-1T results

In the natural realization of the Next-to-minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, Higgsinos tend to be lighter than about several hundred GeVs, which can induce detectable leptonic signals at the LHC as well as large DM-nucleon scattering cross section. We explore the constraints from the direct searches for electroweakino and slepton at the LHC Run II and the latest DM direct detection experiments on the scenario with low fine tuning indicator $\Delta_{Z/h} \leq 50$. We find that these experiments are complementary to each other in excluding the scenario, and as far as each kind of experiment is concerned, it is strong enough to exclude a large portion of the parameter space. As a result, the scenario with Bino- or Higgsino-dominated DM is disfavored, and that with Singlino-dominated DM is tightly limited. There are two regions in natural NMSSM parameter space surviving in the current experimental limits. One is featured with a decoupled Singlino-dominated LSP with $\mu \simeq m_{\widetilde{\chi}_1^0}$, which cannot be explored by neither DM detections or collider searches. The other parameter space region is featured by $10^{-47}~{\rm cm^2} \lesssim \sigma^{SI}_{\widetilde{\chi}-p} \lesssim 10^{-46}~{\rm cm^2}$ and the correlation $\mu \simeq m_{\widetilde{\chi}_1^0}$, which will be explored by near future DM detection experiments.

One-loop contribution to dark-matter-nucleon scattering in the pseudo-scalar dark matter model

Recent dark matter (DM) direct searches place very stringent constraints on the possible DM candidates proposed in extensions of the Standard Model. There are however models where these constraints are avoided. One of the simplest and most striking examples comes from a straightforward Higgs-portal pseudo-scalar DM model featured with a softly broken U(1) symmetry. In this model the tree-level DM-nucleon scattering cross section vanishes in the limit of zero momentum transfer. It has also been argued that the leading-order DM-nucleon cross section appears at the one-loop level. In this work we have calculated the exact cross section in the zero momentum transfer at the leading order i.e., at the one-loop level of perturbative expansion. We have concluded that, in agreement with expectations, the amplitude for the scattering process is UV finite and approaches zero in the limit of vanishing DM masses. Moreover, we made clear that the finite DM velocity correction at tree level is subdominant with respect to the one-loop contribution. Based on the analytic formulae, our numerical studies show that, for a typical choice of model parameters, the DM nuclear recoiling cross section is well below mathcal{O} (10−50 cm2), which indicates that the DM direct detection signal in this model naturally avoids present strong experimental limits on the cross section.

Electric dipole moments and dark matter in a CP violating MSSM

We investigate electric dipole moments (EDMs) in a CP-violating minimal supersymmetric standard model with the Bino-like neutralino dark matter (DM) annihilating through the heavy Higgs funnel. Motivated by the current experimental results, in particular, the measured mass of the standard model-like Higgs boson, we consider a mass spectrum with stop masses of about 10 TeV. For the other sfermions, we consider masses of about 100 TeV. We show that CP-violating phases of the order of ten degrees in gaugino and Higgsino mass parameters are consistent with the current bound by EDMs of the electron, the neutron, and the mercury. They are within the reach of future experiments. We also show that effects of CP-violating phases induce a difference in DM-nucleon scattering cross section by a factor.

New constraints on inelastic dark matter from IceCube

We study the capture and subsequent annihilation of inelastic dark matter (DM) in the Sun, placing constraints on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section from the null result of the IceCube neutrino telescope. We then compare such constraints with exclusion limits on the same cross section that we derive from XENON1T, PICO and CRESST results. We calculate the cross section for inelastic DM-nucleon scattering within an extension of the effective theory of DM-nucleon interactions which applies to the case of inelastic DM models characterised by a mass splitting between the incoming and outgoing DM particle. We find that for values of the mass splitting parameter larger than about 200 keV, neutrino telescopes place limits on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section which are stronger than the ones from current DM direct detection experiments. The exact mass splitting value for which this occurs depends on whether DM thermalises in the Sun or not. This result applies to all DM-nucleon interactions that generate DM-nucleus scattering cross sections which are independent of the nuclear spin, including the “canonical” spin-independent interaction. We explicitly perform our calculations for a DM candidate with mass of 1 TeV, but our conclusions qualitatively also apply to different masses. Furthermore, we find that exclusion limits from IceCube on the coupling constants of this family of spin-independent interactions are more stringent than the ones from a (hypothetical) reanalysis of XENON1T data based on an extended signal region in nuclear recoil energy. Our results should be taken into account in global analyses of inelastic DM models.

Constraints on Dark Matter with a moderately large and velocity-dependent DM-nucleon cross-section

We derive constraints on a possible velocity-dependent DM-nucleon scattering cross section, for Dark Matter in the 10 MeV–100 GeV mass range, using the XQC, DAMIC, and CRESST 2017 Surface Run experiments. We report the limits on cross sections of the form σ=σvn, for a range of velocity dependencies with n∊{-4,-2,-1,0,1,2}. We point out the need to measure the efficiency with which nuclear recoil energy in the sub-keV range thermalizes, rather than being stored as Frenkel pairs in the semi-conductor lattice. The possibility of a significant inefficiency leaves open a considerable “hole” in the limits for mass in the ∼ 0.2–2 GeV range, which XQC and CRESST can potentially fill when the thermalization efficiency is measured. We call attention to the asymmetry between a conventional lower limit cross section and the “upper-reach cross section” imposed by attenuation in an overburden—an upper boundary being extremely sharp but quite insensitive to the statistics of the experiment. Considering the recent interest to use dark matter-baryon interaction with velocity dependence n=-4 to explain the EDGES 21 cm anomaly, we also derive the limits on milli-charged DM that scatters off protons and electrons under a Coulomb-like interaction. We find that much but not all of the region of interest for the EDGES anomaly can be excluded.

Probing bino-wino coannihilation dark matter below the neutrino floor at the LHC

In the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) the bino-wino coannihilation provides a feasible way to accommodate the observed cosmological dark matter (DM) relic density. However, such a scenario usually predicts a very small DM-nucleon scattering cross section that is below the neutrino floor, and can not be tested by DM direct detection experiments. In this work, we investigate the discovery potential of this bino-wino co-annihilation region by searching for the soft dilepton events from the process $pp \to \chi^0_2 (\to \ell^+\ell^- \chi^0_1) \chi^\pm_1+jets$ at the LHC. We find that the mass of the wino-like $\chi^0_2$ can be probed up to about 310 (230) GeV at $2\sigma$ ($5\sigma$) level for an integrated luminosity ${\cal L}=300$ fb$^{-1}$. In the future HL-LHC with 3000 fb$^{-1}$ luminosity, the corresponding mass limits can be pushed up to 430 (330) GeV.