Gravitational Focusing and Substructure Effects on the Rate Modulation in Direct Dark Matter Searches

Abstract

We study how gravitational focusing (GF) of dark matter by the Sun affects the annual and biannual modulation of the expected signal in non-directional direct dark matter searches, in the presence of dark matter substructure in the local dark halo. We consider the Sagittarius stream and a possible dark disk, and show that GF suppresses some, but not all, of the distinguishing features that would characterize substructure of the dark halo were GF neglected.

16 pages, 9 figures. v2: A section with estimates of the required number of events has been added

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• Casting a Wide Signal Net with Future Direct Dark Matter Detection Experiments
• Prospects for detection of target-dependent annual modulation in direct dark matter searches
• Gravitational focusing effects on streaming dark matter as a new detection concept
• Inelastic dark matter with spin-dependent couplings to protons and large modulation fractions in DAMA
• Prospects for Distinguishing Dark Matter Models Using Annual Modulation
• Exploring the Origin of Supermassive Black Holes with Coherent Neutrino Scattering