Reconstructing the WIMP Velocity Distribution from Direct Dark Matter Detection Data with a Non-Negligible Threshold Energy

TL;DR

This paper develops a model-independent method to reconstruct the velocity distribution of Galactic WIMPs from direct detection data, accounting for non-negligible threshold energies, achieving high accuracy in simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel modification to the estimator for normalization, enabling precise reconstruction of WIMP velocity distributions with minimal bias.

Findings

Reconstruction bias reduced to less than 10% in simulations

Effective for minimal velocities as high as 200 km/s

Applicable to data with non-negligible energy thresholds

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the modification of our expressions developed for the model-independent data analysis procedure of the reconstruction of the (time-averaged) one-dimensional velocity distribution of Galactic Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with a non-negligible experimental threshold energy. Our numerical simulations show that, for a minimal reconstructable velocity of as high as O(200) km/s, our model-independent modification of the estimator for the normalization constant could provide precise reconstructed velocity distribution points to match the true WIMP velocity distribution with a <~ 10% bias.