Tools for Studying Low-Mass Dark Matter at Neutrino Detectors

TL;DR

This paper calculates neutrino spectra and dark matter capture rates for low-mass dark matter in the sun, assessing detector sensitivities and showing KamLAND's potential to surpass current CDMS limits.

Contribution

It provides detailed calculations of neutrino signals and capture rates for low-mass dark matter, enabling improved sensitivity estimates for neutrino detectors.

Findings

KamLAND's sensitivity can exceed CDMS by up to two orders of magnitude.

Neutrino spectra from low-mass dark matter annihilation are characterized.

Capture rates depend on the interaction type and element in the sun.

Abstract

We determine the neutrino spectra arising from low-mass (4-10 GeV) dark matter annihilating in the sun. We also determine the low-mass dark matter capture rates (element by element in the sun), assuming dark matter interacts either through elastic contact interactions, elastic long-range interactions, or inelastic contact interactions. These are the non-detector-specific data needed for determining the sensitivity of a neutrino detector to dark matter annihilating in the sun. As an application, we estimate the sensitivity of a one kiloton liquid scintillation neutrino detector (such as KamLAND) and LBNE (LAr-based) to low-mass dark matter with long-range interactions and compare this to the expected CDMS sensitivity. It is found that KamLAND's sensitivity can exceed that obtainable from the current CDMS data set by up to two orders of magnitude.