Work

Plasmon-Enhanced Direct-Detection Method for Boosted Sub-MeV Dark Matter

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: A plasmon, a collective mode of electronic excitation in solid-state detectors, provides a novel way to detect light dark matter (DM). In this work, we present the conditions of DM to produce a plasmon resonance, requiring relativistic velocities for light DM, and generalize the collective excitation framework to account for relativistic DM. As a demonstration, we consider the cosmic ray boosted DM and find that the plasmon resonance can be significantly enhanced in the scenario with a light mediator. Utilizing the first data from the SENSEI experiment with the skipper CCDs at SNOLAB, we obtain a new strong limit on the sub-MeV DM-electron scattering cross section.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.134.071001

Authors: Zheng-Liang Liang, Liangliang Su, Lei Wu, Bin Zhu

Institutions: Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Nanjing Normal University, Yantai University

Language: English

Topic: Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,750

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China