Dark Matter Daily Modulation With Anisotropic Organic Crystals

Abstract

Aromatic organic compounds, because of their small excitation energies ~ O(few eV) and scintillating properties, are promising targets for detecting dark matter of mass ~ O(few MeV). Additionally, their planar molecular structures lead to large anisotropies in the electronic wavefunctions, yielding a significant daily modulation in the event rate expected to be observed in crystals of these molecules. We characterize the daily modulation rate of dark matter interacting with an anisotropic scintillating organic crystal such as trans-stilbene, and show that daily modulation is an ~ O(1) fraction of the total rate for small DM masses and comparable to, or larger than, the ~ 10% annual modulation fraction at large DM masses. As we discuss in detail, this modulation provides significant leverage for detecting or excluding dark matter scattering, even in the presence of a non-negligible background rate. Assuming a non-modulating background rate of 1/min/kg that scales with total exposure, we find that a 100 kg yr experiment is sensitive to the cross section corresponding to the correct relic density for dark matter masses between 1.3-14 MeV (1.5-1000 MeV) if dark matter interacts via a heavy (light) mediator. This modulation can be understood using an effective velocity scale v* = Delta E/q*, where Delta E is the electronic transition energy and q* is a characteristic momentum scale of the electronic orbitals. We also characterize promising future directions for development of scintillating organic crystals as dark matter detectors.

22 pages, 11 figures; v2: matches journal version up to typo fixed in eq. (12)

References in corpus (23)

• SENSEI: Direct-Detection Results on sub-GeV Dark Matter from a New Skipper-CCD
• Single-electron and single-photon sensitivity with a silicon Skipper CCD
• SENSEI: Direct-Detection Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from a Shallow Underground Run Using a Prototype Skipper-CCD
• Detection of sub-MeV Dark Matter with Three-Dimensional Dirac Materials
• First germanium-based constraints on sub-MeV Dark Matter with the EDELWEISS experiment
• Semiconductor Probes of Light Dark Matter
• Constraints on low-mass, relic dark matter candidates from a surface-operated SuperCDMS single-charge sensitive detector
• Diamond Detectors for Direct Detection of Sub-GeV Dark Matter
• Atomic responses to general dark matter-electron interactions
• SiC Detectors for Sub-GeV Dark Matter
• Sub-GeV Dark Matter Detection with Electron Recoils in Carbon Nanotubes
• Dark matter-electron scattering in dielectrics
• Dark Matter-Electron Scattering from Aromatic Organic Targets
• Signatures of Earth-scattering in the direct detection of Dark Matter
• DaMaSCUS: The Impact of Underground Scatterings on Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter
• A Scintillator Purification System for the Borexino Solar Neutrino Detector
• A Dark Matter Interpretation of Excesses in Multiple Direct Detection Experiments
• Scalar Direct Detection: In-Medium Effects
• Constraints on dark matter-nucleon effective couplings in the presence of kinematically distinct halo substructures using the DEAP-3600 detector
• Dependence of Dark Matter - Electron Scattering on the Galactic Dark Matter Velocity Distribution
• Measurement of the cosmic muon annual and diurnal flux variation with the COSINE-100 detector
• Empirical LCAO parameters for $\pi$ molecular orbitals in planar organic molecules
• Prospects for Distinguishing Dark Matter Models Using Annual Modulation

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Searches for light dark matter using condensed matter systems
• Limits on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Experiment
• EXCEED-DM: Extended Calculation of Electronic Excitations for Direct Detection of Dark Matter
• Scalar and Fermion Two-component SIMP Dark Matter with an Accidental ${\mathbb{Z}}_4^{}$ Symmetry
• Review on dark matter searches
• The ups and downs of inelastic dark matter: Electron recoils from terrestrial upscattering
• Glueballs in a Thermal Squeezeout Model
• The Molecular Migdal Effect
• Directional detection of dark matter with anisotropic response functions
• Dark Matter Direct Detection in Materials with Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Constraints on Dark Matter-Electron Scattering from Molecular Cloud Ionization
• WIMPs Without Weakness: Generalized Mass Window with Entropy Injection
• Chiral phonons as dark matter detectors
• Dark Matter Direct Detection with Quantum Dots
• Fuelling the search for light dark matter-electron scattering with spherical proportional counters
• Low-Energy Backgrounds in Solid-State Phonon and Charge Detectors
• Impact of Dark Compton Scattering on Direct Dark Matter Absorption Searches
• Hidden sectors and a multi-temperature universe
• The Non-Relativistic Effective Field Theory Of Dark Matter-Electron Interactions
• Partial Rate Matrix for Dark Matter Scattering
• Wavelet-Harmonic Integration Methods
• Sub-GeV Dark Matter Direct Detection with Neutrino Observatories
• GLIMPSE: Graphene-based super-Light Invisible Matter Particle SEarch
• Mapping the evolution of supernova-neutrino-boosted dark matter within the Milky Way