Probing P- And CP-violation in dark matter interactions
Journal article, 2021

Discrete symmetries played a central role in elucidating the structure of the weak interactions, and they will probably be equally crucial regarding the interactions of the dark matter (DM) particle - whose nature remains elusive. In this work we show that signals in future direct detection experiments can be used to test, in a model-independent way, for P- and CP-violation in DM-nucleus interactions. The analysis is performed within the most general effective theory for non-relativistic spin-0 DM-nucleus interactions mediated by the exchange of a heavy particle. Assuming an idealised xenon detector, we calculate the expected number of DM signal events required to reject P and CP invariant dark matter-nucleus interactions. For a DM mass of 30 GeV (or higher), this number lies between about 10 and 300 DM signal events, depending on how P and CP invariance are modeled. Future direct detection experiments, therefore, have the potential to reveal P- and CP-violation in DM interactions, making a decisive step toward the identification of the DM particle.

Author

Riccardo Catena

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic, High Energy and Plasma Physics

Joakim Hagel

Chalmers, Physics, Condensed Matter and Materials Theory

Carlos E. Yaguna

Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

14757516 (eISSN)

Vol. 2021 5 016

Subject Categories

Accelerator Physics and Instrumentation

Subatomic Physics

Biophysics

DOI

10.1088/1475-7516/2021/05/016

More information

Latest update

6/7/2021 1