Disentangling dark matter dynamics with directional detection

2009/11/30 by Mariangela Lisanti, Jay G. Wacker
Physics and Astronomy · #Anomaly (physics) #Condensed matter physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Elastic scattering #Inelastic scattering #Nuclear physics #Optics #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Recoil #Scattering #Spectral line #astro-ph.CO #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.81.096005

published as Phys.Rev.D81:096005,2010 · 7 pages, 5 figures, references and figures updated

arxiv created 2010/03/24 · openalex publication_date 2010/05/20 · arxiv updated 2015/03/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Inelastic dark matter reconciles the DAMA anomaly with other null direct detection experiments and points to a nonminimal structure in the dark matter sector. In addition to the dominant inelastic interaction, dark matter scattering may have a subdominant elastic component. If these elastic interactions are suppressed at low momentum transfer, they will have similar nuclear recoil spectra to inelastic scattering events. While upcoming direct detection experiments will see strong signals from such models, they may not be able to unambiguously determine the presence of the subdominant elastic scattering from the recoil spectra alone. We show that directional detection experiments can separate elastic and inelastic scattering events and discover the underlying dynamics of dark matter models.

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