WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments
The search for weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter is multi-pronged. Ulti- mately, the WIMP-dark-matter picture will only be confirmed if different classes of experiments see consistent signals and infer the same WIMP properties. In this work, we review the ideas, meth- ods, and s...
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34500/ |
| _version_ | 1848794869402697728 |
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| author | Peter, Annika H.G. Glusevic, Vera Green, Anne M. Kavanagh, Bradley J. Lee, Samuel L. |
| author_facet | Peter, Annika H.G. Glusevic, Vera Green, Anne M. Kavanagh, Bradley J. Lee, Samuel L. |
| author_sort | Peter, Annika H.G. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The search for weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter is multi-pronged. Ulti- mately, the WIMP-dark-matter picture will only be confirmed if different classes of experiments see consistent signals and infer the same WIMP properties. In this work, we review the ideas, meth- ods, and status of direct-detection searches. We focus in particular on extracting WIMP physics (WIMP interactions and phase-space distribution) from direct-detection data in the early discov- ery days when multiple experiments see of order dozens to hundreds of events. To demonstrate the essential complementarity of different direct-detection experiments in this context, we create mock data intended to represent the data from the near-future Generation 2 experiments. We consider both conventional supersymmetry-inspired benchmark points (with spin-independent and -dependent elastic cross sections just below current limits), as well as benchmark points for other classes of models (inelastic and effective-operator paradigms). We also investigate the effect on parameter estimation of loosening or dropping the assumptions about the local WIMP phase-space distribution. We arrive at two main conclusions. Firstly, teasing out WIMP physics with experi- ments depends critically on having a wide set of detector target materials, spanning a large range of target nuclear masses and spin-dependent sensitivity. It is also highly desirable to obtain data from low-threshold experiments. Secondly, a general reconstruction of the local WIMP velocity distribu- tion, which will only be achieved if there are multiple experiments using different target materials, is critical to obtaining a robust and unbiased estimate of the WIMP mass. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:23:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34500 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:23:03Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-345002020-05-04T16:56:40Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34500/ WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments Peter, Annika H.G. Glusevic, Vera Green, Anne M. Kavanagh, Bradley J. Lee, Samuel L. The search for weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter is multi-pronged. Ulti- mately, the WIMP-dark-matter picture will only be confirmed if different classes of experiments see consistent signals and infer the same WIMP properties. In this work, we review the ideas, meth- ods, and status of direct-detection searches. We focus in particular on extracting WIMP physics (WIMP interactions and phase-space distribution) from direct-detection data in the early discov- ery days when multiple experiments see of order dozens to hundreds of events. To demonstrate the essential complementarity of different direct-detection experiments in this context, we create mock data intended to represent the data from the near-future Generation 2 experiments. We consider both conventional supersymmetry-inspired benchmark points (with spin-independent and -dependent elastic cross sections just below current limits), as well as benchmark points for other classes of models (inelastic and effective-operator paradigms). We also investigate the effect on parameter estimation of loosening or dropping the assumptions about the local WIMP phase-space distribution. We arrive at two main conclusions. Firstly, teasing out WIMP physics with experi- ments depends critically on having a wide set of detector target materials, spanning a large range of target nuclear masses and spin-dependent sensitivity. It is also highly desirable to obtain data from low-threshold experiments. Secondly, a general reconstruction of the local WIMP velocity distribu- tion, which will only be achieved if there are multiple experiments using different target materials, is critical to obtaining a robust and unbiased estimate of the WIMP mass. Elsevier 2014-12-01 Article PeerReviewed Peter, Annika H.G., Glusevic, Vera, Green, Anne M., Kavanagh, Bradley J. and Lee, Samuel L. (2014) WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments. Physics of the Dark Universe, 5-6 . pp. 45-74. ISSN 2212-6864 Dark matter; Direct detection; Statistical methods http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212686414000338 doi:10.1016/j.dark.2014.10.006 doi:10.1016/j.dark.2014.10.006 |
| spellingShingle | Dark matter; Direct detection; Statistical methods Peter, Annika H.G. Glusevic, Vera Green, Anne M. Kavanagh, Bradley J. Lee, Samuel L. WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments |
| title | WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments |
| title_full | WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments |
| title_fullStr | WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments |
| title_full_unstemmed | WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments |
| title_short | WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments |
| title_sort | wimp physics with ensembles of direct-detection experiments |
| topic | Dark matter; Direct detection; Statistical methods |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34500/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34500/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34500/ |