Experimental constraints on a dark matter origin for the DAMA annual modulation effect

Abstract

A claim for evidence of dark matter interactions in the DAMA experiment has been recently reinforced. We employ a new type of germanium detector to conclusively rule out a standard isothermal galactic halo of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as the explanation for the annual modulation effect leading to the claim. Bounds are similarly imposed on a suggestion that dark pseudoscalars mightlead to the effect. We describe the sensitivity to light dark matter particles achievable with our device, in particular to Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model candidates.

v4: introduces recent results from arXiv:0807.3279 and arXiv:0807.2926. Sensitivity to pseudoscalars is revised in light of the first. Discussion on the subject added

References in corpus (3)

• First results from DAMA/LIBRA and the combined results with DAMA/NaI
• Lightest Higgs Boson and Relic Neutralino in the MSSM with CP Violation
• Design and Characterization of a Neutron Calibration Facility for the Study of sub-keV Nuclear Recoils

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Bosonic super-WIMPs as keV-scale dark matter
• The Inert Dark Matter
• Dipolar Dark Matter
• Right-handed sneutrino dark matter in the NMSSM
• Dark matter in the solar system I: The distribution function of WIMPs at the Earth from solar capture
• The New DAMA Dark-Matter Window and Energetic-Neutrino Searches
• Using the Energy Spectrum at DAMA/LIBRA to Probe Light Dark Matter
• Compatibility of DAMA/LIBRA dark matter detection with other searches in light of new Galactic rotation velocity measurements
• Search for Dark Matter with CRESST
• TASI 2008 Lectures on Dark Matter