The Non-Relativistic Effective Field Theory Of Dark Matter-Electron Interactions

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Krnjaic, Gordan, Rocha, Duncan, Trickle, Tanner
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Krnjaic, Gordan
Rocha, Duncan
Trickle, Tanner
author_facet Krnjaic, Gordan
Rocha, Duncan
Trickle, Tanner
contents Electronic excitations in atomic, molecular, and crystal targets are at the forefront of the ongoing search for light, sub-GeV dark matter (DM). In many light DM-electron interactions the energy and momentum deposited is much smaller than the electron mass, motivating a non-relativistic (NR) description of the electron. Thus, for any target, light DM-electron phenomenology relies on understanding the interactions between the DM and electron in the NR limit. In this work we derive the NR effective field theory (EFT) of general DM-electron interactions from a top-down perspective, starting from general high-energy DM-electron interaction Lagrangians. This provides an explicit connection between high-energy theories and their low-energy phenomenology in electron excitation based experiments. Furthermore, we derive Feynman rules for the DM-electron NR EFT, allowing observables to be computed diagrammatically, which can systematically explain the presence of in-medium screening effects in general DM models. We use these Feynman rules to compute absorption, scattering, and dark Thomson scattering rates for a wide variety of high-energy DM models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_14598
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Non-Relativistic Effective Field Theory Of Dark Matter-Electron Interactions
Krnjaic, Gordan
Rocha, Duncan
Trickle, Tanner
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Electronic excitations in atomic, molecular, and crystal targets are at the forefront of the ongoing search for light, sub-GeV dark matter (DM). In many light DM-electron interactions the energy and momentum deposited is much smaller than the electron mass, motivating a non-relativistic (NR) description of the electron. Thus, for any target, light DM-electron phenomenology relies on understanding the interactions between the DM and electron in the NR limit. In this work we derive the NR effective field theory (EFT) of general DM-electron interactions from a top-down perspective, starting from general high-energy DM-electron interaction Lagrangians. This provides an explicit connection between high-energy theories and their low-energy phenomenology in electron excitation based experiments. Furthermore, we derive Feynman rules for the DM-electron NR EFT, allowing observables to be computed diagrammatically, which can systematically explain the presence of in-medium screening effects in general DM models. We use these Feynman rules to compute absorption, scattering, and dark Thomson scattering rates for a wide variety of high-energy DM models.
title The Non-Relativistic Effective Field Theory Of Dark Matter-Electron Interactions
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.14598