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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.21096 |
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| _version_ | 1866916340731740160 |
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| author | Iles, Ella Heeba, Saniya Schutz, Katelin |
| author_facet | Iles, Ella Heeba, Saniya Schutz, Katelin |
| contents | We show that dark matter direct detection experiments are sensitive to the existence of particles with a small effective charge (for instance, via couplings to a kinetically mixed, low-mass dark photon). Our forecasts do not depend on these particles comprising a significant fraction of the dark matter. Rather, these experiments are sensitive to the irreducible abundance produced in the early universe through the freeze-in mechanism. We find that ongoing and proposed direct detection experiments will have world-leading sensitivity to effective charges $Q\sim 10^{-12}$ across nine orders of magnitude in mass, corresponding to a dark matter sub-fraction as low as $\sim 10^{-3}$. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_21096 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Direct Detection of the Millicharged Background Iles, Ella Heeba, Saniya Schutz, Katelin High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics We show that dark matter direct detection experiments are sensitive to the existence of particles with a small effective charge (for instance, via couplings to a kinetically mixed, low-mass dark photon). Our forecasts do not depend on these particles comprising a significant fraction of the dark matter. Rather, these experiments are sensitive to the irreducible abundance produced in the early universe through the freeze-in mechanism. We find that ongoing and proposed direct detection experiments will have world-leading sensitivity to effective charges $Q\sim 10^{-12}$ across nine orders of magnitude in mass, corresponding to a dark matter sub-fraction as low as $\sim 10^{-3}$. |
| title | Direct Detection of the Millicharged Background |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.21096 |