Astrophysical uncertainties on the local dark matter distribution and direct detection experiments

Green, Anne M.

doi:10.1088/1361-6471/aa7819

Cited by 91 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 260 publications

(378 reference statements)

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“…[87][88][89][90][91][92][93]), and to v = Ξ 1 (0, v esc , r), which could be related to the microlensing event rate of compact DM objects (e.g. [94,95])-the latter is simply the mean speed across the Galaxy.…”

Section: Direct-search-like Observablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anatomy of Eddington-like inversion methods in the context of dark matter searches

Lacroix

Stref

Lavalle

2018

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

114

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Irrespective of the dark matter (DM) candidate, several potentially observable signatures derive from the velocity distribution of DM in halos, in particular in the Milky Way (MW) halo. Examples include direct searches for weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs), p-wave suppressed or Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation signals, microlensing events of primordial black holes (PBHs), etc. Most current predictions are based on the Maxwellian approximation which is not only theoretically inconsistent in bounded systems, but also not supported by cosmological simulations. A more consistent method sometimes used in calculations for direct WIMP searches relies on the so-called Eddington inversion method, which relates the DM phase-space distribution function (DF) to its mass density profile and the total gravitational potential of the system. Originally built upon the isotropy assumption, this method can be extended to anisotropic systems. We investigate these inversion methods in the context of Galactic DM searches, motivated by the fact that the MW is a strongly constrained system, and should be even more so with the ongoing Gaia survey. We still draw conclusions that apply to the general case. In particular, we illustrate how neglecting the radial boundary of the DM halo leads to theoretical inconsistencies. We also show that several realistic configurations of the DM halo and the MW baryonic content entail ill-defined DFs, significantly restricting the configuration space over which these inversion methods can apply. We propose consistent solutions to these issues. Finally, we compute several observables inferred from constrained Galactic mass models relevant to DM searches (WIMPs or PBHs), e.g. moments and inverse moments of the DM speed and relative speed distributions.

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Section: Direct-search-like Observablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anatomy of Eddington-like inversion methods in the context of dark matter searches

Lacroix

Stref

Lavalle

2018

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These are standard assumptions within the socalled Standard Halo Model, although larger values for the local DM density are favoured by astronomical data, e.g. [61][62][63][64][65][66]. For each simplified model in Appendix A, we calculate the differential cross-section dσ T (E, |v|)/dE using nuclear response functions implemented in DMForm-Factor [38].…”

Section: Dark Matter Detection At Xenonnt/lzmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compatibility of a dark matter discovery at XENONnT or LZ with the WIMP thermal production mechanism

Conrad

Krauss

2018

Phys. Rev. D

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The discovery of dark matter (DM) at XENONnT or LZ would place constraints on DM particle mass and coupling constants. It is interesting to ask when these constraints can be compatible with the DM thermal production mechanism. We address this question within the most general set of renormalizable models that preserve Lorentz and gauge symmetry, and that extend the standard model by one DM candidate of mass m DM and one particle of mass M med mediating DM-quark interactions. Our analysis divides into two parts. First, we postulate that XENONnT/LZ has detected μ S ∼ Oð100Þ signal events, and use this input to calculate the DM relic density, Ω DM h 2 . Then, we identify the regions in the M med − Ω DM h 2 plane which are compatible with the observed signal and with current CMB data. We find that for most of the models considered here, Oð100Þ signal events at XENONnT/LZ and the DM thermal production are only compatible for resonant DM annihilations, i.e. for M med ≃ 2m DM . In this case, XENONnT/LZ would be able to simultaneously measure m DM and M med . We also discuss the dependence of our results on m DM , μ S and the DM spin, and provide analytic expressions for annihilation cross sections and mediator decay widths for all models considered in this study.

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“…In a self-consistent model of the Milky Way, the astrophysical parameters ρ χ , v 0 and v esc will not be independent [9,10,14,35]. However, given both the variation between different observations and the large uncertainties of individual measurements, for simplicity we ignore correlations between astrophysical parameters in the SHM.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainties in direct dark matter detection in light of Gaia's escape velocity measurements

Freese

Kelso

et al. 2019

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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Direct detection experiments have set increasingly stringent limits on the cross section for spin-independent dark matter-nucleon interactions. In obtaining such limits, experiments primarily assume the standard halo model (SHM) as the distribution of dark matter in our Milky Way. Three astrophysical parameters are required to define the SHM: the local dark matter escape velocity, the local dark matter density and the circular velocity of the sun around the center of the galaxy. This paper studies the effect of the uncertainties in these three astrophysical parameters on the XENON1T exclusion limits using the publicly available DDCalc code. We compare limits obtained using the widely assumed escape velocity from the RAVE survey and the newly calculated escape velocity by Monari et al. using Gaia data. Our study finds that the astrophysical uncertainties are dominated by the uncertainty in the escape velocity (independent of the best fit value) at dark matter masses below 6 GeV and can lead to a variation of nearly 6 orders of magnitude in the exclusion limits at 4 GeV. Above a WIMP mass of 6 GeV, the uncertainty becomes dominated by the local dark matter density, leading to uncertainties of factors of ∼10 (3) at 6 (15) GeV WIMP mass in the exclusion limits. Additionally, this work finds that the updated best fit value for the escape velocity based on Gaia data leads to only very minor changes to the effects of the astrophysical uncertainties on the XENON1T exclusion limits.ArXiv ePrint: 1904.04781

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Astrophysical uncertainties on the local dark matter distribution and direct detection experiments

Cited by 91 publications

References 260 publications

Anatomy of Eddington-like inversion methods in the context of dark matter searches

Anatomy of Eddington-like inversion methods in the context of dark matter searches

Compatibility of a dark matter discovery at XENONnT or LZ with the WIMP thermal production mechanism

Uncertainties in direct dark matter detection in light of Gaia's escape velocity measurements

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