Non-relativistic effective interactions of spin 1 Dark Matter

Abstract

We investigate the non-relativistic reduction of simplified models for spin 1 dark matter (DM) with the aim of identifying features in the phenomenology of DM-quark interactions which are specific to vector DM. In the case of DM-quark interactions mediated by a spin 1 particle, we find two DM-nucleon interaction operators arising from the nonrelativistic reduction of simplified models for spin 1 DM that are specific to spin 1 DM, and which were not considered in previous studies. They are quadratic in the momentum transfer, linear in a symmetric combination of polarisation vectors for the DM particle, and arise from simplified models which do not generate momentum transfer independent operators as leading interactions in the non-relativistic expansion of DM-nucleon scattering amplitudes. Within these simplified models, the new operators cannot be neglected when computing DM signals at direct detection experiments. For example, we find that nuclear recoil energy spectra computed by including or neglecting the new operators can differ by up to one order of magnitude for nuclear recoil energies larger than about 20 keV and DM masses below 50 GeV. Furthermore, the shape of the expected nuclear recoil spectra depends significantly on whether the new operators are taken into account or not. Finally, neglecting the contribution to DM direct detection signals from the new operators leads to inaccurate conclusions when assessing the compatibility of a future direct detection signal with CMB constraints on the DM relic density, especially when the number of signal events is small, e.g. O(1).

Constraining non-standard Dark Matter-Nucleon Interactions with IceCube

“…Non-Standard Dark Matter Interactions with IceCube can only appear if the interaction is mediated by a vector mediator [8] where the DM response functions depend on the DM-nucleon interaction strength [7]. The isotope-dependent nuclear response functions have been calculated for the 16 most abundant elements in the sun through numerical shell model calculations in [7].…”

Vector self-interacting dark matter

“…With respect to the general renormalizable spin-1 dark matter Lagrangian parameterization in [42][43][44], these rules correspond to b 5 = g and b 6 = ig, with other identifications straightforward.…”

“…In the notation of Refs. [42,43], the interactions (4.1) and (8.4) map onto effective couplings b 5 = g and h 3 = εeQ q so that the non-relativistic effectivie coupling to nucleons is…”

“…We remark that in the event of a discovery of dark matter scattering at direct detection experiments, Refs. [42,43] show that vector dark matter interacting through a vector mediator may be disentangled from other candidate models through its recoil spectrum.…”

A complete effective field theory for dark matter

“…In the low-energy regime, nonrelativistic EFTs have been discussed, for example in refs. [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57], but more focus has been put on the relativistic case. For instance, a complete set of operators of dimension ≤ 6 (written in the broken phase of the electroweak sector) for an EFT containing the SM fields together with a complex scalar DM field in a singlet, doublet or triplet representation is given in ref.…”