Searching for Light Dark Matter with Collective Excitations

by Kathryn Zurek (California Institute of Technology)

Monday 30 May 2022, 16:00 → 18:00 Europe/Rome

Abstract:
Experiments have traditionally directly searched for weak-scale dark matter (the WIMP) through nuclear recoils.  Theories of hidden sector dark matter often give rise to massive dark matter below the electroweak scale.  When the dark matter becomes lighter than a target nucleus, and the dark matter de Broglie wavelength longer than the target inter particle spacing, nuclear recoils are poorly kinematically matched and collective modes, such as magnons and phonons, become relevant for direct detection.  We discuss the proposal, and experimental prospects, to search for light dark matter through collective excitations.

22_Pisa_Zurek(1).pdf