Form Factor Effects in the Direct Detection of Isospin-Violating Dark Matter

Abstract

Isospin-violating dark matter (IVDM) provides a possible mechanism to ameliorate the tension among recent direct detection experiments. For IVDM, we demonstrate that the results of direct detection experiments based on neutron-rich target nuclei may depend strongly on the density dependence of the symmetry energy which is presently largely unknown and controls the neutron skin thickness that reflects the relative difference of neutron and proton form factors in the neutron-rich nuclei. In particular, using the neutron and proton form factors obtained from Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculations by varying the symmetry energy within the uncertainty region set by the latest model-independent measurement of the neutron skin thickness of ${}^{208}$Pb from PREX experiment at JLab, we find that, for IVDM with neutron-to-proton coupling ratio fixed to $f_n/f_p=-0.7$, the form factor effect may enhance the sensitivity of Xe-based detectors (e.g., XENON100 and LUX) to the DM-proton cross section by a factor of $3$ in the DM mass region constrained by CMDS-II(Si) and even by more than an order of magnitude for heavy DM with mass larger than $80$ GeV, compared with the results using the empirical Helm form factor. Our results further indicate that the form factor effect can significantly modify the recoil spectrum of Xe-based detectors for heavy IVDM with $f_n/f_p=-0.7$.

17 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Title changed slightly, more details and discussions added, especially a new Appendix added to present a generalized Helm-like empirical parametrization for proton and neutron form factors in terms of the neutron skin thickness of 208Pb. Accepted version to appear in JCAP

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Cited by in corpus (16)

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• Quantifying (dis)agreement between direct detection experiments in a halo-independent way
• Muon and electron g-2 and proton and cesium weak charges implications on dark ${\mathbf{Z}}_{\mathbf{d}}$ models
• New insights into nuclear physics and weak mixing angle using electroweak probes
• Exploring light mediators with low-threshold direct detection experiments
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• Positioning the neutron drip line and the r-process paths in the nuclear landscape
• Studying generalised dark matter interactions with extended halo-independent methods
• Symmetry energy systematics and its high density behavior
• Isospin-violating dark matter in the light of recent data
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• A combined analysis of PandaX, LUX, and XENON1T experiments within the framework of dark matter effective theory
• Refined determination of the weak mixing angle at low energy
• Pairing effects on neutron matter equation of state and symmetry energy at subsaturation densities