WIMP capture and annihilation in the Earth in effective theories

Journal article, 2017

I calculate the rate of WIMP capture and annihilation in the Earth in the nonrelativistic effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions. Neglecting operator interference, I consider all Galilean invariant interaction operators that can arise from the exchange of a heavy particle of spin less than or equal to one when WIMPs have spin 0, 1/2 or 1. I compute position and shape of the expected resonances in the mass - capture rate plane and show that Iron is not the most important element in the capture process for many currently ignored interaction operators. I compare these predictions with the recent results of an Earth WIMP analysis of IceCube in the 86-string configuration and set limits on all isoscalar and isovector coupling constants of the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions. For certain interaction operators and for a dark matter particle mass of about 50 GeV, I find that these limits are stronger than those I have previously derived in an analysis of the solar WIMP search performed at IceCube in the 79-string configuration.