Complementarity of Dark Matter Direct Detection Targets

We investigate the reconstruction capabilities of the dark matter mass and spin-independent cross section from future ton-scale direct detection experiments using germanium, xenon, or argon as targets. Adopting realistic values for the exposure, energy threshold, and resolution of dark matter experiments which will come online within 5 to 10 years, the degree of complementarity between different targets is quantified. We investigate how the uncertainty in the astrophysical parameters controlling the local dark matter density and velocity distribution affects the reconstruction. For a 50 GeV WIMP, astrophysical uncertainties degrade the accuracy in the mass reconstruction by up to a factor of �4 for xenon and germanium, compared to the case when astrophysical quantities are fixed. However, the combination of argon, germanium, and xenon data increases the constraining power by a factor of �2 compared to germanium or xenon alone. We show that future direct detection experiments can achieve self-calibration of some astrophysical parameters, and they will be able to constrain the WIMP mass with only very weak external astrophysical constraints. © 2011 American Physical Society DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.83.083505 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-58255 Accepted Version Originally published at: Pato, M; Baudis, L; Bertone, G; Ruiz de Austri, R; Strigari, L; Trotta, R (2011). Complementarity of dark matter direct detection targets. Physical Review D, 83(8):083505 . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.83.083505 Complementarity of Dark Matter Direct Detection Targets Miguel Pato, 2, 3, ∗ Laura Baudis, Gianfranco Bertone, 2 Roberto Ruiz de Austri, Louis E. Strigari, and Roberto Trotta Institute for Theoretical Physics, Univ. of Zürich, Winterthurerst. 190, 8057 Zürich CH Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095-CNRS, Univ. Pierre & Marie Curie, 98bis Bd Arago 75014 Paris, France Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 8, I-35131, Padova, Italy Physics Institute, Univ. of Zürich, Winterthurerst. 190, 8057 Zürich CH Instituto de F́ısica Corpuscular, IFIC-UV/CSIC, Valencia, Spain Kavli Institue for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305 Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK (Dated: December 17, 2010) We investigate the reconstruction capabilities of Dark Matter mass and spin-independent crosssection from future ton-scale direct detection experiments using germanium, xenon or argon as targets. Adopting realistic values for the exposure, energy threshold and resolution of Dark Matter experiments which will come online within 5 to 10 years, the degree of complementarity between different targets is quantified. We investigate how the uncertainty in the astrophysical parameters controlling the local Dark Matter density and velocity distribution affects the reconstruction. For a 50 GeV WIMP, astrophysical uncertainties degrade the accuracy in the mass reconstruction by up to a factor of ∼ 4 for xenon and germanium, compared to the case when astrophysical quantities are fixed. However, combination of argon, germanium and xenon data increases the constraining power by a factor of ∼ 2 compared to germanium or xenon alone. We show that future direct detection experiments can achieve self-calibration of some astrophysical parameters, and they will be able to constrain the WIMP mass with only very weak external astrophysical constraints.