Physics (Internal)

Bounds on annual modulation signal in dark matter direct detection

This event is part of the HET Seminar Series.

Abstract: I will show constraints on the annual modulation signal in Dark Matter direct detection experiments which assume only very general properties of dark matter halo. The derivation of the bound uses an expansion in the earth velocity and is expressed in terms of the unmodulated event rate. I will illustrate the bounds by applying them to the annual modulation signals reported by the DAMA and CoGeNT experiments in the framework of spin-independent elastic and inelastic scattering. While the DAMA signal satisfies our bounds, severe restrictions on the DM mass can be set for CoGeNT.