Directional detection of dark matter streams

Abstract

Directional detection of WIMPs, in which the energies and directions of the recoiling nuclei are measured, currently presents the only prospect for probing the local velocity distribution of Galactic dark matter. We investigate the extent to which future directional detectors would be capable of probing dark matter substructure in the form of streams. We analyse the signal expected from a Sagittarius-like stream and also explore the full parameter space of stream speed, direction, dispersion and density. Using a combination of non-parametric directional statistics, a profile likelihood ratio test and Bayesian parameter inference we find that within acceptable exposure times (O(10) kg yr for cross sections just below the current exclusion limits) future directional detectors will be sensitive to a wide range of stream velocities and densities. We also examine and discuss the importance of the energy window of the detector.

18 pages, 12 figures, 1st revision, submitted to Phys. Rev. D

References in corpus (19)

• The RAVE Survey: Constraining the Local Galactic Escape Speed
• The Local Dark Matter Density
• The Milky Way's circular velocity curve between 4 and 14 kpc from APOGEE data
• Thin, thick and dark discs in LCDM
• Phase-space structure in the local dark matter distribution and its signature in direct detection experiments
• Annual Modulation of Dark Matter in the Presence of Streams
• The Dark Matter at the End of the Galaxy
• Halo-to-Halo Similarity and Scatter in the Velocity Distribution of Dark Matter
• Complementarity of Dark Matter Direct Detection Targets
• First Dark Matter Search Results from a Surface Run of the 10-L DMTPC Directional Dark Matter Detector
• Optimizing WIMP directional detectors
• Dark Matter Direct Search Rates in Simulations of the Milky Way and Sagittarius Stream
• Directional recoil rates for WIMP direct detection
• Exclusion limits from data of directional Dark Matter detectors
• The median recoil direction as a WIMP directional detection signal
• Taming astrophysical bias in direct dark matter searches
• Probing the Local Velocity Distribution of WIMP Dark Matter with Directional Detectors
• Consequences of statistical sense determination for WIMP directional detection
• Is the effect of the Sun's gravitational potential on dark matter particles observable?

Cited by in corpus (12)

• A Tail of Two Populations: Chemo-dynamics of the Sagittarius Stream and Implications for its Original Mass
• Readout technologies for directional WIMP Dark Matter detection
• Axion astronomy with microwave cavity experiments
• Nuclear spin-dependent interactions: Searches for WIMP, Axion and Topological Defect Dark Matter, and Tests of Fundamental Symmetries
• Dark Matter vs. Neutrinos: The effect of astrophysical uncertainties and timing information on the neutrino floor
• Reconstructing the three-dimensional local dark matter velocity distribution
• Time-integrated directional detection of dark matter
• The Dynamical Response of Dark Matter to Galaxy Evolution Affects Direct-Detection Experiments
• Discretising the velocity distribution for directional dark matter experiments
• Comparing readout strategies to directly detect dark matter
• Search for axions in streaming dark matter
• Some Thoughts on (the Incompleteness of) the (Double) Differential Event Rates for Elastic WIMP-Nucleus Scattering in (Directional) Direct Dark Matter Detection Physics