New Directions in Direct Dark Matter Searches

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current status of direct dark matter detection, emphasizing new non-relativistic operator approaches, experimental results, and the impact of interaction uncertainties, including long-range interaction models.

Contribution

It introduces a more general non-relativistic operator framework for analyzing dark matter-nucleus interactions and discusses the implications of interaction uncertainties on experimental interpretations.

Findings

Major experimental results with uncertainties highlighted

Non-relativistic operator approach enhances analysis efficiency

Long-range interaction models impact phenomenological understanding

Abstract

I present the status of direct dark matter detection with specific attention to the experimental results and their phenomenological interpretation in terms of dark matter interactions. In particular I review a new and more general approach to study signals in this field based on non-relativistic operators which parametrize more efficiently the dark matter-nucleus interactions in terms of a very limited number of relevant degrees of freedom. Then I list the major experimental results, pointing out the main uncertainties that affect the theoretical interpretation of the data. Finally, since the underlying theory that describes both the dark matter and the standard model fields is unknown, I address the uncertainties coming from the nature of the interaction. In particular, the phenomenology of a class of models in which the interaction between dark matter particles and target nuclei is of a long-range type is discussed.