Abstract
Dark matter elastic scattering off nuclei can result in the excitation and ionization of the recoiling atom through the so-called Migdal effect. The energy deposition from the ionization electron adds to the energy deposited by the recoiling nuclear system and allows for the detection of interactions of sub- mass dark matter. We present new constraints for sub- dark matter using the dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber of the DarkSide-50 experiment with an exposure of . The analysis is based on the ionization signal alone and significantly enhances the sensitivity of DarkSide-50, enabling sensitivity to dark matter with masses down to . Furthermore, it sets the most stringent upper limit on the spin independent dark matter nucleon cross section for masses below .
- Received 28 July 2022
- Revised 23 December 2022
- Accepted 7 February 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.101001
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society