Model independent determination of the dark matter mass from direct detection experiments

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method to accurately determine dark matter mass from direct detection data by parametrizing the speed distribution without prior assumptions, enabling unbiased reconstruction.

Contribution

It presents a novel polynomial parametrization of the dark matter speed distribution that allows for unbiased mass measurement from experimental data.

Findings

Accurate reconstruction of WIMP mass from mock data.

Demonstration of unbiased mass measurement without prior distribution assumptions.

Method applicable to future direct detection experiments.

Abstract

Determining the dark matter (DM) mass is of paramount importance for understanding dark matter. We present a novel parametrization of the DM speed distribution which will allow the DM mass to be accurately measured using data from Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) direct detection experiments. Specifically, we parametrize the natural logarithm of the speed distribution as a polynomial in the speed v. We demonstrate, using mock data from upcoming experiments, that by fitting the WIMP mass and interaction cross-section, along with the polynomial coefficients, we can accurately reconstruct both the WIMP mass and speed distribution. This new method is the first demonstration that an accurate, unbiased reconstruction of the WIMP mass is possible without prior assumptions about the distribution function. We anticipate that this technique will be invaluable in the analysis of future experimental data.