Non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter direct detection

Abstract

Dark matter direct detection searches for signals coming from dark matter scattering against nuclei at a very low recoil energy scale ∼ 10 keV. In this paper, a simple non-relativistic effective theory is constructed to describe interactions between dark matter and nuclei without referring to any underlying high energy models. It contains the minimal set of operators that will be tested by direct detection. The effective theory approach highlights the set of distinguishable recoil spectra that could arise from different theoretical models. If dark matter is discovered in the near future in direct detection experiments, a measurement of the shape of the recoil spectrum will provide valuable information on the underlying dynamics. We bound the coefficients of the operators in our non-relativistic effective theory by the null results of current dark matter direct detection experiments. We also discuss the mapping between the non-relativistic effective theory and field theory models or operators, including aspects of the matching of quark and gluon operators to nuclear form factors.

Overcoming velocity suppression in dark-matter direct-detection experiments

“…It is for this reason that the coefficients ∆q (N ) for these cases can be interpreted as characterizing the fraction of the spin of the nucleon N that is carried by the quark q. Indeed, in the case of pseudoscalar couplings, it is easy to show that all terms -and not just those at leading order -are spin-dependent; this follows directly from the symmetry-based observation that any CP-odd Lorentzscalar quantity which depends on only the properties of the nucleon must involve the nucleon spin [12][13][14][15]. On the other hand, we see that the pseudoscalar case also leads to a velocity suppression: the corresponding matrix element in Eq.…”

Standard Model anatomy of WIMP dark matter direct detection. II. QCD analysis and hadronic matrix elements

“…To the extent that multi-nucleon effects are relevant, the complete nuclear response cannot be derived from information contained solely in the single nucleon matching, requiring an extension of the effective theory to include such effects and/or additional information from quark-level matching [26]. A heavy particle effective theory may be constructed for an entire nucleus [27] but requires further analysis in order to directly compare experiments using different nuclei [28]. 1 The remainder of the paper is structured as follows.…”

Effective dark matter model: relic density, CDMS II, Fermi LAT and LHC

“…In this paper, we investigate the dimension six, tree-level generated and SU(3) c × SU(2) L × U(1) Y invariant effective operators, which describe the interactions of DM and SM particles. Similar studies in the effective Lagrangian approach have been carried out in the literature [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46], which focus on different operators.…”