Getting the astrophysics and particle physics of dark matter out of next-generation direct detection experiments

The next decade will bring massive new data sets from experiments of the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particle dark matter. Mapping the data sets to the particle-physics properties of dark matter is complicated not only by the considerable uncertainties in the dark-matter model, but by its poorly constrained local distribution function (the ‘‘astrophysics’’ of dark matter). I propose a shift in how to think about direct-detection data analysis. I show that by treating the astrophysical and particle-physics uncertainties of dark matter on equal footing, and by incorporating a combination of data sets into the analysis, one may recover both the particle physics and astrophysics of dark matter. Not only does such an approach yield more accurate estimates of dark-matter properties, but it may illuminate how dark matter coevolves with galaxies.