Accelerating Composite Dark Matter Discovery with Nuclear Recoils and the Migdal Effect

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel detection method for composite dark matter using nuclear recoils and the Migdal effect, enhancing sensitivity in experiments and exploring astrophysical phenomena for discovery.

Contribution

It introduces a new detection approach leveraging nuclear recoil and the Migdal effect for composite dark matter, extending potential discovery avenues beyond traditional methods.

Findings

Detectability of composite dark matter with nucleon couplings as small as 10^{-17}

Enhanced sensitivity achieved by considering the Migdal effect in experiments

Potential astrophysical signatures in supernovae and planetary heating

Abstract

Large composite dark matter states source a scalar binding field that, when coupled to Standard Model nucleons, provides a potential under which nuclei recoil and accelerate to energies capable of ionization, radiation, and thermonuclear reactions. We show that these dynamics are detectable for nucleon couplings as small as $g_n \sim 10^{-17}$ at dark matter experiments, where the greatest sensitivity is attained by considering the Migdal effect. We also explore Type-Ia supernovae and planetary heating as possible means to discover this type of dark matter.