Absorption of Fermionic Dark Matter in the PICO-60 C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ Bubble Chamber

E. Adams; B. Ali; R. Anderson-Dornan; I. J. Arnquist; M. Bai; D. Baxter; E. Behnke; B. Broerman; C. J. Chen; K. Clark; J. I. Collar; P. S. Cooper; D. Cranshaw; C. Cripe; M. Crisler; C. E. Dahl; M. Das; S. Das; S. Fallows; J. Farine; R. Filgas; A. García-Viltres; G. Giroux; O. Harris; H. Hawley-Herrera; T. Hillier; E. W. Hoppe; C. M. Jackson; M. Jin; C. B. Krauss; M. Laurin; I. Lawson; A. Leblanc; H. Leng; I. Levine; C. Licciardi; W. H. Lippincott; Q. Malin; P. Mitra; V. Monette; C. Moore; R. Neilson; A. J. Noble; H. Nozard; S. Pal; M. -C. Piro; S. Priya; C. Rethmeier; M. Robert; A. E. Robinson; J. Savoie; S. J. Sekula; A. Sonnenschein; N. Starinski; I. Štekl; M. Tripathi; E. Vázquez-Jáuregui; U. Wichoski; William Woodley; V. Zacek; J. Zhang

doi:10.1103/1cwz-m1c3

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arXiv · 2504.13089

Absorption of Fermionic Dark Matter in the PICO-60 C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ Bubble Chamber

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Abstract

Fermionic dark matter absorption on nuclear targets via neutral current interactions is explored using a non-relativistic effective field theory framework. An analysis of data from the PICO-60 C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ bubble chamber sets leading constraints on spin-independent absorption for dark matter masses below 23 MeV/$\textit{c}^2$ and establishes the first limits on spin-dependent absorptive interactions. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of bubble chambers to low-mass dark matter and underscore the importance of absorption searches in expanding the parameter space of direct detection experiments.

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E. Adams, B. Ali, R. Anderson-Dornan, I. J. Arnquist, M. Bai, D. Baxter, E. Behnke, B. Broerman, C. J. Chen, K. Clark, J. I. Collar, P. S. Cooper, D. Cranshaw, C. Cripe, M. Crisler, C. E. Dahl, M. Das, S. Das, S. Fallows, J. Farine, R. Filgas, A. García-Viltres, G. Giroux, O. Harris, H. Hawley-Herrera, T. Hillier, E. W. Hoppe, C. M. Jackson, M. Jin, C. B. Krauss, M. Laurin, I. Lawson, A. Leblanc, H. Leng, I. Levine, C. Licciardi, W. H. Lippincott, Q. Malin, P. Mitra, V. Monette, C. Moore, R. Neilson, A. J. Noble, H. Nozard, S. Pal, M. -C. Piro, S. Priya, C. Rethmeier, M. Robert, A. E. Robinson, J. Savoie, S. J. Sekula, A. Sonnenschein, N. Starinski, I. Štekl, M. Tripathi, E. Vázquez-Jáuregui, U. Wichoski, William Woodley, V. Zacek, J. Zhang. 2025-04-17. Absorption of Fermionic Dark Matter in the PICO-60 C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ Bubble Chamber. https://doi.org/10.1103/1cwz-m1c3

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