The Past and Future of Light Dark Matter Direct Detection

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current status and future prospects of light dark matter direct detection, discussing past anomalies, background explanations, and the impact of solar neutrino backgrounds on future experiments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of past experimental anomalies, their explanations, and analyzes how solar neutrino backgrounds will influence future dark matter detection efforts.

Findings

Past anomalies have been explained by underestimated backgrounds.

Progress has been made in understanding the DAMA/LIBRA modulation.

Solar neutrino backgrounds pose a significant challenge for future searches.

Abstract

We review the status and future of direct searches for light dark matter. We start by answering the question: `Whatever happened to the light dark matter anomalies?' i.e. the fate of the potential dark matter signals observed by the CoGeNT, CRESST-II, CDMS-Si and DAMA/LIBRA experiments. We discuss how the excess events in the first two of these experiments have been explained by previously underestimated backgrounds. For DAMA we summarise the progress and future of mundane explanations for the annual modulation reported in its event rate. Concerning the future of direct detection we focus on the irreducible background from solar neutrinos. We explain broadly how it will affect future searches and summarise efforts to mitigate its effects.