Terrestrial WIMP/Axion astronomy

TL;DR

This paper discusses how terrestrial dark matter detection experiments can provide unique insights into the local astrophysical structure of the dark matter halo, especially for WIMPs and axions, impacting our understanding of dark matter distribution.

Contribution

It highlights the potential of direct detection experiments to probe the local dark matter halo structure on very small scales, emphasizing the importance of directional sensitivity and novel velocity distribution models.

Findings

Directional experiments can constrain local WIMP velocity distributions.

Axion haloscopes can outperform astrometric methods in measuring local DM distribution.

Terrestrial experiments are crucial for understanding small-scale dark matter structure.

Abstract

Predicting signals in direct dark matter (DM) detection experiments requires an understanding of the astrophysical structure of the local halo. Any uncertainty in this understanding will feed directly into all experimental results. However our terrestrial experiments are in a position to study this same astrophysical dependence, and in fact represent our only probe of the local halo on sub-milliparsec scales. This is best achieved in the case of WIMP dark matter if directionally sensitive experiments are feasible, but requires novel parameterizations of the velocity distribution to make model independent claims. For axions the prospects are much greater, haloscopes would be able to make better measurements of the local DM distribution than astrometric probes.