Enhancing Direct Detection of Higgsino Dark Matter

Kavli Affiliate: Peter W. Graham

| First 5 Authors: Peter W. Graham, Harikrishnan Ramani, Samuel S. Y. Wong, ,

| Summary:

While much supersymmetric WIMP parameter space has been ruled out, one
remaining important candidate is Higgsino dark matter. The Higgsino can
naturally realize the “inelastic dark matter" scenario, where the scattering
off a nucleus occurs between two nearly-degenerate states, making it invisible
to WIMP direct detection experiments if the splitting is too large to be
excited. It was realized that a “luminous dark matter" detection process,
where the Higgsino upscatters in the Earth and subsequently decays into a
photon in a large neutrino detector, offers the best sensitivity to such a
scenario. We consider the possibility of adding a large volume of a heavy
element, such as Pb or U, around the detector. We also consider the presence of
U and Th in the Earth itself, and the effect of an enhanced high-velocity tail
of the dark matter distribution due to the presence of the Large Magellanic
Cloud. These effects can significantly improve the sensitivity of detectors
such as JUNO, SNO+, and Borexino, potentially making it possible in the future
to cover much of the remaining parameter space for this classic SUSY WIMP dark
matter.

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