Maximizing Direct Detection with Highly Interactive Particle Relic Dark Matter

Abstract

We estimate the maximum direct detection cross section for sub-GeV dark matter (DM) scattering off nucleons. For DM masses in the range $10\text{ keV }-100\text{ MeV}$, cross sections greater than $10^{-36}$- $10^{-30}{\text{cm}}^2$ seem implausible. We present a DM candidate which realizes this maximum cross section: HighlY interactive ParticlE Relics (HYPERs). After HYPERs freeze-in, a dark sector phase transition decreases the mediator's mass. This increases the HYPER's direct detection cross section without impacting its abundance or measurements of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the Cosmic Microwave Background.

5+3 pages, 3 figures. v2: published in PRL with minor revisions

References in corpus (17)

• Measurement of the fine-structure constant as a test of the Standard Model
• Light Dark Matter: Models and Constraints
• Stellar cooling bounds on new light particles: plasma mixing effects
• Refined Bounds on MeV-scale Thermal Dark Sectors from BBN and the CMB
• Making dark matter out of light: freeze-in from plasma effects
• Diamond Detectors for Direct Detection of Sub-GeV Dark Matter
• Light Dark Matter in Superfluid Helium: Detection with Multi-excitation Production
• Dynamics of Electroweak Phase Transition In Singlet-Scalar Extension of the Standard Model
• Standard Model with a Complex Scalar Singlet: Cosmological Implications and Theoretical Considerations
• How warm are non-thermal relics? Lyman-$\alpha$ bounds on out-of-equilibrium dark matter
• Probing the scotogenic FIMP at the LHC
• Changes in Dark Matter Properties After Freeze-Out
• Neutrino experiments probe hadrophilic light dark matter
• Limits on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Experiment
• Cosmological Constraints on First-Order Phase Transitions
• Scale Invariant FIMP Miracle
• Dark matter transient annihilations in the early Universe

Cited by in corpus (44)

• Nano-Hertz gravitational waves from collapsing domain walls associated with freeze-in dark matter in light of pulsar timing array observations
• Dark Matter and Gravity Waves from a Dark Big Bang
• Cosmic-ray dark matter confronted by constraints on new light mediators
• A Dark Sink Enhances the Direct Detection of Freeze-in Dark Matter
• Evaporation Barrier for Dark Matter in Celestial Bodies
• Azimuthal asymmetry in cosmic-ray boosted dark matter flux
• Probing Light Dark Matter through Cosmic-Ray Cooling in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Cosmologically Varying Kinetic Mixing
• Blazar boosted Dark Matter -- direct detection constraints on ${\sigma }_{e\chi }$ : Role of energy dependent cross sections
• XENONnT and LUX-ZEPLIN constraints on DSNB-boosted dark matter
• An Analytic Approach to Light Dark Matter Propagation
• An Improved Bound on Accelerated Light Dark Matter
• Constraints on new physics around the MeV scale with cosmological observations
• CMB signature of non-thermal Dark Matter produced from self-interacting dark sector
• Energy-dependent Boosted Dark Matter from Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background
• Experimental Limits on Solar Reflected Dark Matter with a New Approach on Accelerated-Dark-Matter-Electron Analysis in Semiconductors
• Accelerated Light Dark Matter-Earth Inelastic Scattering in Direct Detection
• Model-dependent analysis method for energy budget of the cosmological first-order phase transition
• First Demonstration of the HeRALD Superfluid Helium Detector Concept
• A proposed PKU-Muon experiment for muon tomography and dark matter search
• Scalar Co-SIMP Dark Matter: Models and Sensitivities
• Plasmon-enhanced Direct Detection Method for Boosted sub-MeV Dark Matter
• Dark Matter (H)eats Young Planets
• Jet substructure probe to unfold singlet-doublet dark matter in the presence of non-standard cosmology
• Sub-MeV Dark Sink Dark Matter
• New constraints on cosmic ray-boosted dark matter from the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment
• XQC and CSR constraints on strongly interacting dark matter with spin and velocity dependent cross sections
• Impact of freeze-in on dark matter isocurvature
• Mass-varying Dark Matter from a Phase Transition
• Boosted Dark Matter From Centaurus A and Its Detection
• Non-thermal production of heavy vector dark matter from relativistic bubble walls
• Electroweak baryogenesis between broken phases in multi-step phase transition
• Directional direct detection of light dark matter up-scattered by cosmic rays from direction of the Galactic center
• Multi-messenger FIMP
• Prospects of detecting cosmic ray up-scattered dark matter with DUNE
• Inelastic Scattering of Dark Matter with Heavy Cosmic Rays
• Investigating the collinear splitting effects of boosted dark matter at neutrino detectors
• Directional Direct Detection of MeV Scale Boosted Dark Matter in Two Component Dark Matter Scenario via Dark Photon Interaction
• Dark matter production accompanied by gravitational wave signals during cosmological phase transitions
• Primordial black holes as cosmic accelerators of light dark matter: Novel direct detection constraints
• Dynamical backreaction of a mass-acquiring scalar field on first-order phase transitions
• Search for Dark Matter Annihilation and Decay with H$\alpha$ Line Emission
• Constraints on dark matter boosted by supernova shock within the effective field theory framework from the CDEX-10 experiment
• Blazar-Boosted Dark Matter: Novel Signatures via Elastic and Inelastic Scattering