Dark matter-electron scattering in dielectrics
arXiv:2101.08275 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.104.015031
Abstract
A number of direct detection experiments are searching for electron excitations created by scattering of sub-GeV dark matter. We present an alternate formulation of dark matter-electron scattering in terms of the dielectric response of a material. For dark matter which couples to electrons, this approach automatically accounts for in-medium screening effects, which were not included in previous rate calculations for semiconductor targets. We show that the screening effects appear for both scalar and vector mediators. The result is a non-negligible reduction of reach for direct detection experiments which use dielectric materials as targets. We also explore different determinations of the dielectric response, including first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations and a data-driven analytic approximation using a Mermin oscillator model.
arXiv comment13 pages, 7 figures
References in corpus (38)
- A real-space grid implementation of the Projector Augmented Wave method
- Direct Detection of Sub-GeV Dark Matter
- First Direct Detection Limits on sub-GeV Dark Matter from XENON10
- SENSEI: Direct-Detection Results on sub-GeV Dark Matter from a New Skipper-CCD
- New Constraints and Prospects for sub-GeV Dark Matter Scattering off Electrons in Xenon
- Stellar cooling bounds on new light particles: plasma mixing effects
- Migdal Effect in Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments
- Superconducting Detectors for Super Light Dark Matter
- Detection of sub-MeV Dark Matter with Three-Dimensional Dirac Materials
- Detecting Superlight Dark Matter with Fermi-Degenerate Materials
- Semiconductor Probes of Light Dark Matter
- Detecting Dark Matter with Superconducting Nanowires
- Direct Detection of Strongly Interacting Sub-GeV Dark Matter via Electron Recoils
- Constraints on low-mass, relic dark matter candidates from a surface-operated SuperCDMS single-charge sensitive detector
- Directional Detection of Dark Matter with Two-Dimensional Targets
- Making dark matter out of light: freeze-in from plasma effects
- Direct Detection of sub-GeV Dark Matter with Scintillating Targets
- Detecting Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter via Absorption in Superconductors
- On the relation between Migdal effect and dark matter-electron scattering in isolated atoms and semiconductors
- Modulation Effects in Dark Matter-Electron Scattering Experiments
- Diamond Detectors for Direct Detection of Sub-GeV Dark Matter
- Multi-Channel Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter: Target Comparison
- Atomic responses to general dark matter-electron interactions
- Electron Ionization via Dark Matter-Electron Scattering and the Migdal Effect
- Multi-Channel Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter: Theoretical Framework
- Solar Neutrinos as a Signal and Background in Direct-Detection Experiments Searching for Sub-GeV Dark Matter With Electron Recoils
- SiC Detectors for Sub-GeV Dark Matter
- Dirac Materials for Sub-MeV Dark Matter Detection: New Targets and Improved Formalism
- Directional Dark Matter Detection in Anisotropic Dirac Materials
- Dark Matter-Electron Scattering from Aromatic Organic Targets
- DAMIC-M Experiment: Thick, Silicon CCDs to search for Light Dark Matter
- A Dark Matter Interpretation of Excesses in Multiple Direct Detection Experiments
- Scalar Direct Detection: In-Medium Effects
- Dependence of Dark Matter - Electron Scattering on the Galactic Dark Matter Velocity Distribution
- Plasmon production from dark matter scattering
- Projected sensitivity to sub-GeV dark matter of next-generation semiconductor detectors
- LBECA: A Low Background Electron Counting Apparatus for Sub-GeV Dark Matter Detection
- Dark Matter Substructure under the Electron Scattering Lamppost
Cited by in corpus (22)
- Determining Dark Matter-Electron Scattering Rates from the Dielectric Function
- DarkELF: A python package for dark matter scattering in dielectric targets
- Searches for light dark matter using condensed matter systems
- Extended Calculation of Dark Matter-Electron Scattering in Crystal Targets
- Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Matter--Electron Scattering from the CDEX-10 Experiment
- Dark Matter Daily Modulation With Anisotropic Organic Crystals
- EXCEED-DM: Extended Calculation of Electronic Excitations for Direct Detection of Dark Matter
- Dark matter direct detection from the single phonon to the nuclear recoil regime
- Direct Detection of Spin-Dependent Sub-GeV Dark Matter via Migdal Effect
- Dark matter - electron interactions in materials beyond the dark photon model
- Directional detection of dark matter with anisotropic response functions
- Phonon-mediated Migdal effect in semiconductor detectors
- In-medium screening effects for the Galactic halo and solar-reflected dark matter detection in semiconductor targets
- Dark Moments for the Standard Model ?
- Dark Matter Direct Detection with Quantum Dots
- The Phonon Background from Gamma Rays in Sub-GeV Dark Matter Detectors
- DM-electron scattering in materials: sum rules and heterostructures
- Freeze-in, glaciation, and UV sensitivity from light mediators
- Halo-Independent Dark Matter Electron Scattering Analysis with In-Medium Effects
- Spin-dependent dark matter-electron interactions
- Can sub-GeV dark matter coherently scatter on the electrons in the Atom?
- New constraints on dark matter from superconducting nanowires