Deconstructive Composite Dark Matter Detection

TL;DR

This paper explores how loosely bound composite dark matter particles disassemble into cascades when passing through Earth, proposing new detection signatures based on cascade profiles and timing in underground detectors.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model of cascade signatures from disassembling composite dark matter, highlighting unique detection features for loosely bound dark matter particles.

Findings

Identification of non-collinear multiple scatters in detectors

Timing separation of multiscatter events as a signature

Potential for coincident detection across different underground labs

Abstract

We investigate the detection of composite dark matter that disassembles into a cascade while crossing the Earth. This occurs for loosely bound composite dark matter, where the binding energy per constituent is small, such that scattering with Standard Model nuclei typically imparts enough energy to dissociate a constituent from its composite. Trajectories and cascade profiles are found for dissociated constituents that are further diverted by scattering through the Earth. Such scattering cascades are a common feature of TeV-scale weakly-interacting dark matter loosely bound in composites. We identify underground detector signatures of constituent cascades that depend on composite characteristics; these signatures include non-collinear multiple scatters in detectors, parameter-dependent timing separation of multiscatter events, and regions of parameter space where a dark matter cascade would leave a coincident signature in different underground laboratories.