Work

Dark matter repulsion could thwart direct detection

Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: We consider a feeble repulsive interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter, with a range similar to or larger than the size of the Earth. Dark matter can thus be repelled from the Earth, leading to null results in direct detection experiments, regardless of the strength of the short-distance interactions of dark matter with atoms. Generically, such a repulsive force would not allow trapping of dark matter inside astronomical bodies. In this scenario, accelerator-based experiments may furnish the only robust signals of asymmetric dark matter models, which typically lack indirect signals from self-annihilation. Some of the variants of our hypothesis are also briefly discussed.
Language: English
Open Access status: green
Award: G241279073
OpenAlex ID: W3033989593
FWCI: 0.559
Cites: 53
Cited by: 8
Related to: 10