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Constraints on Strongly Interacting Dark Matter

Cappiello, Christopher
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1626365687089288

Abstract Details

2021, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Physics.
Dark matter makes up the vast majority of the matter in the universe, but despite years of experimental searches, its particle nature remains unknown. Strong limits on dark matter's properties come from direct detection experiments, which search for scattering between dark matter and Standard Model particles in the lab. While direct detection experiments have set strong and wide-reaching limits on weakly interacting dark matter above the MeV--GeV mass range, these limits lose strength or become invalid in particular regions of dark matter parameter space. If dark matter is too light, it cannot carry enough momentum to trigger typical direct detection experiments at typical halo velocities. We show that if sub-GeV dark matter has a nonzero cross section with nuclei or electrons, it must scatter with cosmic rays, producing two effects: distortions to the observed cosmic ray spectra, and a flux of high-energy, upscattered dark matter. We examine both of these effects and use them to set constraints on sub-GeV dark matter. And if dark matter interacts too strongly, commonly made assumptions about the size of dark matter-nucleus cross sections break down, invalidating many past analyses. For dark matter above a GeV, we show that if the dark matter-nucleon cross section is too large, the Born Approximation fails. This invalidates assumptions that are commonly used to relate dark matter's cross sections with different nuclei, for example, in the context of studying attenuation of strongly interacting dark matter in the Earth's crust. Finally, we build on this by setting new experimental constraints on heavy, composite dark matter, one general class of model that does not rely on the Born Approximation, unlike most studies of pointlike dark matter.
John Beacom (Advisor)
Antonio Boveia (Committee Member)
Linda Carpenter (Committee Member)
Annika Peter (Committee Member)
217 p.
Astrophysics; Particle Physics; Physics
Dark Matter; Astrophysics; Particle Physics; Direct Detection; Particle Phenomenology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Cappiello, C. (2021). Constraints on Strongly Interacting Dark Matter [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1626365687089288

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Cappiello, Christopher. Constraints on Strongly Interacting Dark Matter. 2021. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1626365687089288.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Cappiello, Christopher. "Constraints on Strongly Interacting Dark Matter." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1626365687089288

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1626365687089288
386
© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.