Determining the Mass of Dark Matter Particles with Direct Detection Experiments

TL;DR

This paper reviews two data analysis methods for estimating the mass and cross section of dark matter particles from direct detection experiments, highlighting their procedures, uncertainties, and limitations.

Contribution

It introduces and compares a maximum likelihood method and a model-independent approach for dark matter particle characterization using experimental data.

Findings

Maximum likelihood analysis can estimate dark matter mass from a single experiment.

Model-independent method requires data from at least two experiments.

Discussion of uncertainties and limitations of both methods.

Abstract

In this article I review two data analysis methods for determining the mass (and eventually the spin-independent cross section on nucleons) of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles with positive signals from direct Dark Matter detection experiments: a maximum likelihood analysis with only one experiment and a model-independent method requiring at least two experiments. Uncertainties and caveats of these methods will also be discussed.