Dark Matter Capture by Atomic Nuclei

Abstract

We propose a new strategy to search for a particular type of dark matter via nuclear capture. If the dark matter particle carries baryon number, as motivated by a class of theoretical explanations of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe, it can mix with the neutron and be captured by an atomic nucleus. The resulting state de-excites by emitting a single photon or a cascade of photons with a total energy of up to several MeV. The exact value of this energy depends on the dark matter mass. We investigate the prospects for detecting dark matter capture signals in current and future neutrino and dark matter direct detection experiments.

6 pages, 1 figure

References in corpus (5)

• Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay in ${}^{136}$Xe with EXO-200
• The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) Experiment
• Hylogenesis: A Unified Origin for Baryonic Visible Matter and Antibaryonic Dark Matter
• Direct constraints on charged excitations of dark matter
• How long does the hydrogen atom live?

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Earth-bound Milli-charge Relics
• Cosmological and astrophysical probes of dark baryons
• Light particles with baryon and lepton numbers
• Coloured Scalar Mediated Nucleon Decays to Invisible Fermion
• Dark sectors in neutron-shining-through-a-wall and nuclear absorption signals
• Neutron Dark Decay
• Decay dynamics of $N\to \ell \pi$ and $N\to \ell \gamma$
• Shedding Light on Dark Sectors with Gravitational Waves