Exclusion of Leptophilic Dark Matter Models using XENON100 Electronic Recoil Data

TL;DR

This study uses XENON100 data to search for dark matter interactions with electrons, excluding several models including those proposed to explain the DAMA/LIBRA signal, with high confidence levels.

Contribution

It provides the first direct experimental constraints on leptophilic dark matter models using electronic recoil data from XENON100.

Findings

Excluded axial-vector dark matter-electron cross-sections above 6x10^(-35) cm^2 at 2 GeV/c^2

Ruled out leptophilic models explaining DAMA/LIBRA at 4.4 sigma or higher confidence

No evidence found for dark matter-electron interactions in the analyzed data.

Abstract

Laboratory experiments searching for galactic dark matter particles scattering off nuclei have so far not been able to establish a discovery. We use data from the XENON100 experiment to search for dark matter interacting with electrons. With no evidence for a signal above the low background of our experiment, we exclude a variety of representative dark matter models that would induce electronic recoils. For axial-vector couplings to electrons, we exclude cross-sections above 6x10^(-35) cm^2 for particle masses of m_chi = 2 GeV/c^2. Independent of the dark matter halo, we exclude leptophilic models as explanation for the long-standing DAMA/LIBRA signal, such as couplings to electrons through axial-vector interactions at a 4.4 sigma confidence level, mirror dark matter at 3.6 sigma, and luminous dark matter at 4.6 sigma.