Global fits of the dark matter-nucleon effective interactions

Abstract

The effective theory of isoscalar dark matter-nucleon interactions mediated by heavy spin-one or spin-zero particles depends on 10 coupling constants besides the dark matter particle mass. Here we compare this 11-dimensional effective theory to current observations in a comprehensive statistical analysis of several direct detection experiments, including the recent LUX, SuperCDMS and CDMSlite results. From a multidimensional scan with about 3 million likelihood evaluations, we extract the marginalized posterior probability density functions (a Bayesian approach) and the profile likelihoods (a frequentist approach), as well as the associated credible regions and confidence levels, for each coupling constant vs dark matter mass and for each pair of coupling constants. We compare the Bayesian and frequentist approach in the light of the currently limited amount of data. We find that current direct detection data contain sufficient information to simultaneously constrain not only the familiar spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions, but also the remaining velocity and momentum dependent couplings predicted by the dark matter-nucleon effective theory. For current experiments associated with a null result, we find strong correlations between some pairs of coupling constants. For experiments that claim a signal (i.e., CoGeNT and DAMA), we find that pairs of coupling constants produce degenerate results.

32 pages, 11 figures, replaced to match the published version

References in corpus (15)

• Dark Matter Results from 225 Live Days of XENON100 Data
• New results from DAMA/LIBRA
• Search for Low-Mass WIMPs with SuperCDMS
• Results from a Low-Energy Analysis of the CDMS II Germanium Data
• First dark matter search results from a 4-kg CF${}_3$I bubble chamber operated in a deep underground site
• Non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter direct detection
• Constraints on Low-Mass WIMP Interactions on 19F from PICASSO
• Direct dark matter detection: the next decade
• XENON10/100 dark matter constraints in comparison with CoGeNT and DAMA: examining the Leff dependence
• Complementarity of Dark Matter Direct Detection Targets
• Fundamental statistical limitations of future dark matter direct detection experiments
• Prospects for direct dark matter detection in the Constrained MSSM
• Quantifying the evidence for Dark Matter in CoGeNT data
• Statistical coverage for supersymmetric parameter estimation: a case study with direct detection of dark matter
• Scintillating bolometers: a key for determining WIMP parameters

Cited by in corpus (22)

• Nested sampling for physical scientists
• Standard Model anatomy of WIMP dark matter direct detection II: QCD analysis and hadronic matrix elements
• From quarks to nucleons in dark matter direct detection
• Not so Coy Dark Matter explains DAMA (and the Galactic Center excess)
• A Model Independent Approach to Inelastic Dark Matter Scattering
• Signatures of Earth-scattering in the direct detection of Dark Matter
• Statistical Issues in Astrophysical Searches for Particle Dark Matter
• New directional signatures from the non-relativistic effective field theory of dark matter
• Analysis of the theoretical bias in dark matter direct detection
• Studying generalised dark matter interactions with extended halo-independent methods
• Prospects for determining the particle/antiparticle nature of WIMP dark matter with direct detection experiments
• Dark matter spin determination with directional direct detection experiments
• Target dependence of the annual modulation in direct dark matter searches
• A combined analysis of PandaX, LUX, and XENON1T experiments within the framework of dark matter effective theory
• WIMP capture and annihilation in the Earth in effective theories
• WIMP capture by the Sun in the effective theory of dark matter self-interactions
• Extracting Particle Physics Information from Direct Detection of Dark Matter with Minimal Assumptions
• Assessing the sensitivity of PINGU to effective dark matter-nucleon interactions
• A DAMA/Libra-phase2 analysis in terms of WIMP-quark and WIMP-gluon effective interactions up to dimension seven
• Bracketing the direct detection exclusion plot for a WIMP of spin one half in non-relativistic effective theory
• Complementarity of experiments in probing the non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions
• Dark Matter Effective Field Theory and an Application to Vector Dark Matter