Atomic limits in the search for galactic dark matter

作者：Sorensen Peter

来源：Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 2015, 91(8): 083509.

DOI：10.1103/PhysRevD.91.083509

Direct searches for low-mass dark matter particles via scattering off target nuclei require detection of recoiling atoms with energies of similar to 1 keV or less. The amount of electronic excitation produced by such atoms is quenched relative to a recoiling electron of the same energy. The Lindhard model of this quenching, as originally formulated, remains widely used after more than 50 years. The present work shows that for very small energies, a simplifying approximation of that model must be removed. This leads to a kinematic cutoff in the production of electronic excitation. Implications for the sensitivity of direct detection experiments are discussed.

• 出版日期2015-4-6