Cosmic-Neutrino-Boosted Dark Matter ($\nu$BDM)

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new mechanism where cosmic neutrinos significantly boost dark matter flux in the keV to MeV mass range, enhancing detection prospects and setting bounds using underground experiments.

Contribution

It proposes the first detailed study of cosmic-neutrino-boosted dark matter and derives bounds and sensitivities from underground detectors.

Findings

Dark matter flux can be enhanced by 2-4 orders of magnitude

Established conservative bounds from underground experiments

Projected future sensitivities for detecting $ u$BDM

Abstract

A novel mechanism of boosting dark matter by cosmic neutrinos is proposed. The new mechanism is so significant that the arriving flux of dark matter in the mass window $1~{\rm keV} \lesssim m_{\rm DM} \lesssim 1~{\rm MeV}$ on Earth can be enhanced by two to four orders of magnitude compared to one only by cosmic electrons. Thereby we firstly derive conservative but still stringent bounds and future sensitivity limits for such cosmic-neutrino-boosted dark matter ($\nu$BDM) from advanced underground experiments such as Borexino, PandaX, XENON1T, and JUNO.