Neutralino Inelastic Scattering with Subsequent Detection of Nuclear Gamma Rays

Abstract

We consider the potential benefits of searching for supersymmetric dark-matter through its inelastic excitation, via the "scalar current", of low-lying collective nuclear states in a detector. If such states live long enough so that the gamma radiation from their decay can be separated from the signal due to nuclear recoil, then background can be dramatically reduced. We show how the kinematics of neutralino-nucleus scattering is modified when the nucleus is excited and derive expressions for the form factors associated with exciting collective states. We apply these results to two specific cases: 1) the 5/2^+ state at 13 keV in 73Ge, and 2) the rotational and hence very collective state 3/2^+ at 8 keV in 169Tm (even though observing the transition down from that state will be difficult). In both cases we compare the form factors for inelastic scattering with those for elastic scattering. The inelastic cross section is considerably smaller than its elastic counterpart, though perhaps not always prohibitively so.

arXiv comment7 pages, 1 figure in text, latex

References in corpus (2)

• Supersymmetric Dark Matter
• New Contribution to Coherent neutralino-Nucleus Scattering

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Non-Baryonic Dark Matter - Observational Evidence and Detection Methods
• Dark Matter: A Primer
• Interpreting Dark Matter Direct Detection Independently of the Local Velocity and Density Distribution
• Signatures of Dark Matter Scattering Inelastically Off Nuclei
• Metastable Nuclear Isomers as Dark Matter Accelerators
• Search for dark matter induced de-excitation of ${}^{180}$Ta${}^{\mathrm{m}}$
• Spin-dependent sub-GeV Inelastic Dark Matter-electron scattering and Migdal effect: (I). Velocity Independent Operator
• Pushing the frontier of WIMPy inelastic dark matter: journey to the end of the periodic table
• A search for rare and induced nuclear decays in hafnium
• Theoretical direct WIMP detection rates for transitions to nuclear excited states
• Inelastic dark matter nucleus scattering
• Inelastic WIMP-nucleus scattering to the first excited state in ${}^{125}$Te
• Deformed shell model study of event rates for WIMP- ${}^{73}$Ge scattering
• Directional direct detection of light dark matter up-scattered by cosmic rays from direction of the Galactic center