Phenomenology of dark matter-nucleon effective interactions

TL;DR

This paper compares non-relativistic effective theories of dark matter-nucleon interactions with experimental data, highlighting the importance of operator interference and nuclear response functions in setting exclusion limits.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of dark matter detection constraints using effective field theory, including interference effects and updated nuclear response functions.

Findings

Interference of interaction operators affects detection limits.

Hydrogen is less significant in spin-dependent interactions than previously thought.

New nuclear response functions refine neutrino telescope constraints.

Abstract

I compare the non-relativistic effective theory of one-body dark matter-nucleon interactions to current dark matter direct detection experiments and neutrino telescope observations, presenting exclusion limits on the coupling constants of the theory. In the analysis of direct detection experiments, I focus on the interference of different dark matter-nucleon interaction operators and on predictions observable at directional detectors. Interpreting neutrino telescope observations, I use new nuclear response functions recently derived through nuclear structure calculations and show that hydrogen is not the most important element in the exclusion limit calculation for the majority of the spin-dependent dark matter-nucleon interaction operators