Projected Sensitivity of Paleo-Detectors to Dark Matter Effective Interactions with Nuclei

TL;DR

Paleo-detectors, utilizing ancient minerals to detect dark matter-induced nuclear recoils over geological timescales, could surpass traditional experiments in sensitivity for a broad range of WIMP masses and interactions, especially in the 1 GeV-10 GeV range.

Contribution

This work extends theoretical predictions for paleo-detectors' sensitivity to dark matter interactions within the NREFT framework, considering various backgrounds, minerals, and read-out scenarios.

Findings

Paleo-detectors can outperform conventional experiments for 1-10 GeV WIMP masses.

Sensitivity is comparable or better than traditional detectors for 10 GeV-5 TeV WIMP masses.

Projected limits surpass current experimental bounds across several NREFT operators.

Abstract

Paleo-detectors are a proposed experimental technique for direct detection (DD) of dark matter (DM) via the read-out of DM-induced nuclear recoil tracks in natural minerals. The large detector mass required for the sensitivity of conventional DD experiments to rare events is replaced by the exposure of paleo-detectors to DM-induced nuclear recoils over geological timescales. In this paper, we extend previous theoretical predictions for canonical spin-independent coherent and spin-dependent scattering (proportional to $A^2$ and the spin of the nucleus, respectively). We estimate the sensitivity of paleo-detectors to interactions between weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) DM and nuclei within the framework of a Non-Relativistic Effective Field Theory (NREFT), considering isoscalar couplings to nucleons for both elastic and inelastic scattering. Taking into account cosmogenic, astrophysical and radiogenic backgrounds, we project the 90% confidence-level (CL) upper limits on the isoscalar NREFT coupling constants for both scattering types. We consider representative read-out scenarios and examine several target minerals. The projected sensitivities of paleo-detectors are compared with the 90% CL limits from the XENON100, LUX-ZEPLIN, and PandaX-II experiments, as well as with the 95% Bayesian credible region of the 2D marginalized posterior distribution from SuperCDMS. For DM masses from 1 GeV-10 GeV, paleo-detectors are projected to have sensitivity superior to that of conventional experiments for WIMP-nucleus interactions via all NREFT operators, largely independent of read-out scenario or target mineral. For DM masses from 10 GeV-5 TeV, we find that the sensitivity of paleo-detectors is projected to be comparable to or better than that of conventional experiments for WIMP-nucleus interactions via several NREFT operators, depending on the read-out scenario and target mineral.