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arXiv · hep-ph/0010036

Spin-Dependent WIMPs in DAMA?

Abstract

We investigate whether the annual modulation observed in the DAMA experiment can be due to a weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) with an axial-vector (spin-dependent; SD) coupling to nuclei. We evaluate the SD WIMP-proton cross section under the assumption that such scattering accounts for the DAMA modulation, and we do the same for a SD WIMP-neutron cross section. We show that SD WIMP-proton scattering is ruled out in a model-independent fashion by null searches for energetic neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in the Sun, and that SD WIMP-neutron scattering is ruled out for WIMP masses > 20 GeV by the null result with the DAMA Xe detector. A SD WIMP with mass < 20 GeV is still compatible, but only if the SD WIMP-neutron interaction is four orders of magnitude greater than the WIMP-proton interaction.

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BibTeXRIS

Piero Ullio, Marc Kamionkowski, Petr Vogel. 2000-10-04. Spin-Dependent WIMPs in DAMA?. https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708%2F2001%2F07%2F044

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