Fitting the annual modulation in DAMA with neutrons from muons and neutrinos

Abstract

The DAMA/LIBRA experiment searches for evidence of Dark Matter scattering off nuclei. Data from DAMA show 9.2 sigma evidence for an annual modulation, consistent with Dark Matter having a cross section around 2x10^(-40) cm^2. However this is excluded by other Direct Detection experiments. We propose an alternative source of annual modulation in the form of neutrons, which have been liberated from material surrounding the detector by a combination of 8B solar neutrinos and atmospheric muons. The phase of the muon modulation lags 30 days behind the data, however we show that adding the modulated neutrino component shifts the phase of the combined signal forward. In addition we estimate that neutrinos and muons need around 1000 m^3 of scattering material in order to generate enough neutrons to constitute the signal. With current data our model gives as good a fit as Dark Matter and we discuss prospects for future experiments to discriminate between the two.

v2: Matches version published in PRL. Includes a new figure. 5 pages, 4 figures

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• The Past and Future of Light Dark Matter Direct Detection
• Muon-induced neutrons do not explain the DAMA data
• Making sense of the local Galactic escape speed estimates in direct dark matter searches
• Exothermic isospin-violating dark matter after SuperCDMS and CDEX
• Comment on "Fitting the annual modulation in DAMA with neutrons from muons and neutrinos''
• Dark matter, a new proof of the predictive power of general relativity
• Comparison of DAMA/LIBRA and DM ICE Results using Information Theory to Rule out Dark Matter Claims