Searching for MeV-mass neutrinophilic Dark Matter with Large Scale Dark Matter Detectors

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of large-scale dark matter detectors to identify MeV-mass neutrinophilic dark matter annihilating into tau and muon neutrinos, which are challenging to detect with conventional methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to detect MeV-mass neutrinophilic dark matter using upcoming neutrino detectors and discusses how combined signals could enhance detection prospects.

Findings

Detection sensitivity is suppressed for electron neutrino flavor.

Large-scale detectors can potentially observe signals in the tens of MeV range.

Coincident signals in direct detection and neutrino experiments could improve dark matter identification.

Abstract

The indirect detection of dark matter (DM) through its annihilation products is one of the primary strategies for DM detection. One of the least constrained classes of models is neutrinophilic DM, because the annihilation products, weakly interacting neutrinos, are challenging to observe. Here, we consider a scenario where MeV-mass DM exclusively annihilates to the third neutrino mass eigenstate, which is predominantly of tau and muon flavor. In such a scenario, the potential detection rate of the neutrinos originating from the DM annihilation in our Galaxy in the conventional detectors would be suppressed by up to approximately two orders of magnitude. This is because the best sensitivity of such detectors for neutrinos with energies below approximately 100 MeV is for electron neutrino flavor. In this work, we highlight the potential of large-scale DM detectors in uncovering such signals in the tens of MeV range of DM masses. In addition, we discuss how coincident signals in direct detection DM experiments and upcoming neutrino detectors such as DUNE, Hyper-Kamiokande, and JUNO could provide new perspectives on the DM problem.