Direct Detection Limits on Heavy Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper explores the detection limits of heavy, multiply-interacting dark matter particles (MIMPs), showing current experiments can exclude certain mass ranges and proposing dedicated analyses to explore even higher masses.

Contribution

It demonstrates how existing experimental data can constrain MIMP dark matter and suggests new analysis strategies to probe unexplored high-mass parameter space.

Findings

Limits from MAJORANA exclude MIMPs up to 10^15 GeV/c^2.

XENON1T data constrains MIMPs in the high-mass regime.

Dedicated MIMP analysis could reach masses up to 10^18 GeV/c^2.

Abstract

Multiply-interacting massive particles (MIMPs) are heavy (>10^10 GeV/c^2) dark matter particles that interact strongly with regular matter, but may have evaded detection due to the low number density required to make up the local dark matter halo. These particles could leave track-like signatures in current experiments, similar to lightly-ionizing particles. We show that previously calculated limits from the MAJORANA Demonstrator on the flux of lightly-ionizing particles can be used to exclude MIMP dark matter parameter space up to a mass of 10^15 GeV/c^2. We also calculate limits from the standard XENON1T analysis in this high-mass regime, properly taking into account flux limitations and multi-scatter effects. Finally, we show that a dedicated MIMP analysis using the XENON1T dark matter search could probe unexplored parameter space up to masses of 10^18 GeV/c^2.