Dark matter directional detection in non-relativistic effective theories

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive theoretical framework for dark matter directional detection that encompasses all possible one-body dark matter-nucleon interactions, enabling more model-independent analyses of experimental data.

Contribution

It generalizes existing models by including 14 interaction operators and nuclear responses, expanding the analysis capabilities for dark matter directional detection experiments.

Findings

Calculated recoil energy spectra for various detector materials.

Identified new features in the response to different dark matter interactions.

Provided a foundation for model-independent analysis of directional detection data.

Abstract

We extend the formalism of dark matter directional detection to arbitrary one-body dark matter-nucleon interactions. The new theoretical framework generalizes the one currently used, which is based on 2 types of dark matter-nucleon interaction only. It includes 14 dark matter-nucleon interaction operators, 8 isotope-dependent nuclear response functions, and the Radon transform of the first 2 moments of the dark matter velocity distribution. We calculate the recoil energy spectra at dark matter directional detectors made of CF$_4$, CS$_2$ and $^{3}$He for the 14 dark matter-nucleon interactions, using nuclear response functions recently obtained through numerical nuclear structure calculations. We highlight the new features of the proposed theoretical framework, and present our results for a spherical dark matter halo and for a stream of dark matter particles. This study lays the foundations for model independent analyses of dark matter directional detection experiments.