Exploring for sub-MeV Boosted Dark Matter from Xenon Electron Direct Detection

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential to detect sub-MeV boosted light dark matter particles via electron recoil signals in xenon detectors, emphasizing the importance of energy-dependent cross sections for improved sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a new analysis of boosted light dark matter detection using existing xenon experiments, highlighting the role of energy-dependent cross sections in enhancing detection prospects.

Findings

Constraints on boosted light dark matter from XENON data

Energy dependence of cross section improves detection sensitivity

Complementarity between direct detection and other experiments

Abstract

Direct detection experiments turn to lose sensitivity of searching for a sub-MeV light dark matter candidate due to the threshold of recoil energy. However, such light dark matter particles can be accelerated by energetic cosmic-rays such that they can be detected with existing detectors. We derive the constraints on the scattering of a boosted light dark matter and electron from the XENON100/1T experiment. We illustrate that the energy dependence of the cross section plays a crucial role in improving both the detection sensitivity and also the complementarity of direct detection and other experiments.