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arXiv · 2607.10716

Migdal Ionization as a Probe of Light Dark Matter from Nuclear Transition

Yuanchao Lou·Liangliang Su·Lei Wu
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Abstract

Nuclear reactors serve as a key artificial source of light dark matter. Direct detection of reactor-produced dark matter faces substantial obstacles, since quenching effects suppress conventional elastic scattering signals below detector thresholds. We present a new search strategy utilizing the Migdal effect in germanium detectors to probe light dark matter produced via nuclear de-excitation from reactors. Using ON-OFF residual spectra from the TEXONO experiment, we set a new stringent limit on the dark matter and nucleus interaction over the mass range $0.01\,\text{MeV}\le m_\chi \lesssim 2.6\,\text{MeV}$, which provides a complementary bound to existing cosmological and astrophysical limits.

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Yuanchao Lou, Liangliang Su, Lei Wu. 2026-07-12. Migdal Ionization as a Probe of Light Dark Matter from Nuclear Transition. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.10716

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