Halo-Independent Direct Detection Analyses Without Mass Assumptions

Abstract

Results from direct detection experiments are typically interpreted by employing an assumption about the dark matter velocity distribution, with results presented in the $m_{\chi }-{\sigma }_n$ plane. Recently methods which are independent of the DM halo velocity distribution have been developed which present results in the $v_{min}-\tilde{g}$ plane, but these in turn require an assumption on the dark matter mass. Here we present an extension of these halo-independent methods for dark matter direct detection which does not require a fiducial choice of the dark matter mass. With a change of variables from $v_{min}$ to nuclear recoil momentum ($p_R$), the full halo-independent content of an experimental result for any dark matter mass can be condensed into a single plot as a function of a new halo integral variable, which we call $\tilde{h}(p_R)$. The entire family of conventional halo-independent $\tilde{g}(v_{min})$ plots for all DM masses are directly found from the single $\tilde{h}(p_R)$ plot through a simple rescaling of axes. By considering results in $\tilde{h}(p_R)$ space, one can determine if two experiments are inconsistent for all masses and all physically possible halos, or for what range of dark matter masses the results are inconsistent for all halos, without the necessity of multiple $\tilde{g}(v_{min})$ plots for different DM masses. We conduct a sample analysis comparing the CDMS II Si events to the null results from LUX, XENON10, and SuperCDMS using our method and discuss how the mass-independent limits can be strengthened by imposing the physically reasonable requirement of a finite halo escape velocity.

23 pages, 8 figures. v2: footnote and references added

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Cited by in corpus (22)

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• The Metal-Poor Stellar Halo in RAVE-TGAS and its Implications for the Velocity Distribution of Dark Matter
• Optimized velocity distributions for direct dark matter detection
• Halo-independent determination of the unmodulated WIMP signal in DAMA: the isotropic case
• Reconstructing the three-dimensional local dark matter velocity distribution
• Assessing Compatibility of Direct Detection Data: Halo-Independent Global Likelihood Analyses
• Halo-independent comparison of direct detection experiments in the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions
• Prospects for determining the particle/antiparticle nature of WIMP dark matter with direct detection experiments
• The Milky Way, Coming into Focus: Precision Astrometry Probes its Evolution, and its Dark Matter
• On the importance of direct detection combined limits for spin independent and spin dependent dark matter interactions
• Halo-Independent Analysis of Direct Dark Matter Detection Through Electron Scattering
• Updated Constraints on the Dark Matter Interpretation of CDMS-II-Si Data
• Direct Detection Anomalies in light of $Gaia$ Data
• Halo-independent bounds on the non-relativistic effective theory of WIMP-nucleon scattering from direct detection and neutrino observations
• Halo-independent bounds on Inelastic Dark Matter
• Gamma-ray lines may reveal the CP nature of the dark matter particle
• Information divergences to parametrize astrophysical uncertainties in dark matter direct detection
• Sensitivity of WIMP bounds on the velocity distribution in the limit of a massless mediator
• Extracting Halo Independent Information from Dark Matter Electron Scattering Data
• Information-theoretic astrophysical uncertainties in the effective theory of dark matter direct detection