Model-independent determination of the Migdal effect via photoabsorption

TL;DR

This paper establishes a model-independent relation linking the Migdal effect in dark matter detection to photoabsorption, enabling more accurate and uncertainty-free predictions for various detector materials.

Contribution

It derives a rigorous, model-independent Migdal-photoabsorption relation that connects the Migdal effect to photoabsorption cross sections, reducing theoretical uncertainties.

Findings

Validated the relation for xenon using advanced atomic calculations.

Predicted Migdal effect signals for xenon, argon, silicon, and germanium detectors.

Provided a framework for uncertainty-free dark matter detection analyses.

Abstract

The Migdal effect in a dark-matter-nucleus scattering extends the direct search experiments to the sub-GeV mass region through electron ionization with sub-keV detection thresholds. In this paper, we derive a rigorous and model-independent "Migdal-photoabsorption" relation that links the sub-keV Migdal process to photoabsorption. This relation is free of theoretical uncertainties as it only requires the photoabsorption cross section as the experimental input. Validity of this relation is explicitly checked in the case of xenon with an state-of-the-arts atomic calculation that is well-benchmarked by experiments. The predictions based on this relation for xenon, argon, semiconductor silicon and germanium detectors are presented and discussed.