Discriminating WIMP-nucleus response functions in present and future XENON-like direct detection experiments

Abstract

The standard interpretation of direct-detection limits on dark matter involves particular assumptions of the underlying WIMP-nucleus interaction, such as, in the simplest case, the choice of a Helm form factor that phenomenologically describes an isoscalar spin-independent interaction. In general, the interaction of dark matter with the target nuclei may well proceed via different mechanisms, which would lead to a different shape of the corresponding nuclear structure factors as a function of the momentum transfer q. We study to what extent different WIMP-nucleus responses can be differentiated based on the q-dependence of their structure factors (or "form factors"). We assume an overall strength of the interaction consistent with present spin-independent limits and consider an exposure corresponding to XENON1T-like, XENONnT-like, and DARWIN-like direct detection experiments. We find that, as long as the interaction strength does not lie too much below current limits, the DARWIN settings allow a conclusive discrimination of many different response functions based on their q-dependence, with immediate consequences for elucidating the nature of dark matter.

Three-nucleon forces: Implementation and applications to atomic nuclei and dense matter

“…In addition, higher-order long-range corrections to axial-vector currents have been studied in Refs. [402,403] in the context of WIMP-nucleus scattering as part of dark matter searches [404]. Figure 70 illustrates that contributions from higher-order two-body currents (2BC) can have significant effects on transition 16 O and 40 Ca as a function of c D (with corresponding c E value from the triton binding energy, see Table I).…”

First Results on the Scalar WIMP-Pion Coupling, Using the XENON1T Experiment

“…Even though the dependence on q itself contains valuable hints for the nature of the underlying interaction [46], the information about physics beyond the standard model (BSM) is fully encoded in the coefficients c M AE and a AE . They include both the coupling of the WIMP to quarks and gluons (Wilson coefficients) and the hadronic matrix elements that reflect that quarks and gluons are embedded into nucleons.…”

A Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics

“…A second handle to discriminate the nuclear responses exploits their different dependence on the momentum transfer, see Figure 9. The feasibility of this approach has been explored for several WIMP-nucleon interactions [235,236]. In particular, Ref.…”

“…In particular, Ref. [235] considered realistic detector settings, including projections for a nextgeneration experiment like the one proposed here, see Figure 10. As with inelastic scattering, for most responses a discrimination becomes possible with sufficient statistics.…”