Binary-boosted Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how binary systems, especially black hole binaries, gravitationally boost dark matter particles in the Milky Way, potentially enhancing detection signals in large noble liquid detectors for sub-GeV dark matter.

Contribution

It introduces a gravitational boosting mechanism from galactic binaries that can increase dark matter particle energies, improving detection prospects in existing experiments.

Findings

Black hole binaries can accelerate dark matter particles up to ~2000 km/s.

Large noble liquid detectors can detect boosted dark matter down to sub-GeV masses.

The boosting effect is largely model- and mass-independent.

Abstract

We explore the aggregate effect of binary systems on the Milky Way's dark matter (DM) velocity distribution with Monte Carlo simulations. Through gravitational interactions with binaries, transiting DM particles can gain substantial energy. We analyze this mechanism across a range of galactic binaries, and find it to be most effective for double black holes, where ejection speeds can reach $\sim 2000 \ \rm km/s$ while attaining a large ejection rate. We assess the expected binary-boosted DM flux from synthetic populations of black hole binaries in the galaxy, and show direct detection experiments can be sensitive to it. In particular, we demonstrate that large noble liquid detectors such as Lux-Zeplin and PandaX-4T can extend their mass sensitivity down to the sub-GeV scale, and potentially become competitive with other lower-threshold experiments when the full galactic black hole binary population is taken into account. This boosting mechanism, being gravitational in nature, is largely model- and mass-independent.