# Dark matter repulsion could thwart direct detection

## TL;DR

This paper proposes that a feeble, long-range repulsive force between dark matter and ordinary matter could prevent dark matter from being detected directly on Earth, challenging current detection assumptions.

## Contribution

It introduces the novel idea that dark matter's repulsive interaction with matter can explain null detection results and suggests alternative detection methods via accelerators.

## Key findings

- Dark matter may be repelled from Earth due to a long-range force.
- Direct detection experiments could fail despite dark matter's presence.
- Accelerator experiments might be the only viable detection method.

## Abstract

We consider a feeble repulsive interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter, with a range similar to or larger than the size of the Earth. Dark matter can thus be repelled from the Earth, leading to null results in direct detection experiments, regardless of the strength of the short-distance interactions of dark matter with atoms. Generically, such a repulsive force would not allow trapping of dark matter inside astronomical bodies. In this scenario, accelerator-based experiments may furnish the only robust signals of asymmetric dark matter models, which typically lack indirect signals from self-annihilation. Some of the variants of our hypothesis are also briefly discussed.