Complementary Planetary Spectroscopy Probes of Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel framework using planetary spectroscopy data from various space missions to detect and constrain dark matter interactions, complementing existing detection methods.

Contribution

It develops a comprehensive framework linking dark matter energy injection signals to planetary environments and combines multiple observational datasets to constrain DM properties.

Findings

Planetary data constrains DM-nucleon scattering effectively.

Different planets probe complementary DM mass ranges.

Forecasts suggest future detection potential with Super-Jupiter.

Abstract

We investigate dark matter (DM) interactions via spectroscopic signatures of energy injection in planetary environments. We develop a general framework to account for how DM energy injection signals depend on the DM spatial distribution, planetary structure, and DM energy deposition profile. We combine UV airglow data on the Solar System's gas giants from the Voyager and New Horizons flybys, and ionospheric measurements from AMS-02 and ELFIN CubeSat on Earth, with internal heat flow data from Cassini, Voyager, and terrestrial boreholes, to constrain DM-nucleon scattering across both heavy and light mediator scenarios. We show that Earth, gas giants, and ice giants probe complementary DM masses and mediator properties, and forecast the reach of a free-floating Super-Jupiter. These results establish planetary spectroscopy as a powerful and versatile probe of the dark sector, complementary to direct detection, cosmology, and collider searches.