2009/12/31 by R. Foot · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Event (particle physics) #Nuclear physics #Particle Detector Development and Performance #Particle physics #Physics #Recoil #astro-ph.GA #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.81.087302
published as Phys.Rev.D81:087302,2010 · about 7 pages
arxiv created 2009/12/31 · openalex publication_date 2010/04/02 · arxiv updated 2010/11/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Mirror dark matter offers a framework to explain the existing dark matter direct detection experiments, including the impressive DAMA signal. Here, we examine the implications of mirror dark matter for experiments like CDMS II/Ge and XENON10 which feature higher recoil energy threshold than the DAMA NaI experiments. We show that the two events seen in the CDMS II/Ge experiment are consistent with the interactions of the anticipated heavy \ensuremath∼Fe^\ensuremath' component. This interpretation of the CDMS II/Ge events is a natural one given that (a) mirror dark matter predicts an event rate which is sharply falling with respect to recoil energy and (b) that the two observed events are in the low energy region near threshold. Importantly, this interpretation of the CDMS II events can be checked by ongoing and future experiments, and we hereby predict that the bulk of the events will be in the ER\ensuremath≤18 keV region.