Conservative constraints on the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions from IceCube: the impact of operator interference

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to set conservative upper limits on dark matter-nucleon interaction couplings, accounting for operator interference, and applies it to IceCube neutrino data to constrain dark matter properties.

Contribution

The paper develops a general method for deriving conservative bounds on dark matter-nucleon couplings considering operator interference effects.

Findings

Established conservative upper limits on dark matter-proton and neutron scattering cross-sections.

Demonstrated the method's applicability to IceCube neutrino constraints.

Provided a framework adaptable to various models and bases.

Abstract

We present a method to derive conservative upper limits on the coupling constants of the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions, taking into account the interference among operators. The method can be applied in any basis, and can be easily particularized to any UV complete model. To illustrate our method, we use the IceCube constraints on an exotic neutrino flux from dark matter annihilations in the Sun to derive conservative upper limits on the dark matter-nucleon coupling constants of the effective theory, as well as to derive conservative upper limits on the dark matter-proton and dark matter-neutron scattering cross-sections.