arXiv subjects

Tarak Nath Maity

Publications and source records attributed to Tarak Nath Maity.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

LUX-ZEPLIN's Stairway to Hea$ν$en: limits on elastic scatters of dark matter from solar capture

The recent report of xenon recoiling with about 250 keV energy at the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter direct detection experiment was interpreted by the collaboration as either a momentum-dependent elastic scatter or an inelastic scatter. In this study, we take elastic operators listed by LZ that fit the datum to better than 3$σ$, and perform a log-likelihood analysis using the reported significances to reverse-engineer their best-fit Wilson coefficients. We then estimate for each operator the rate of dark matter capturing in the Sun, and assuming self-annihilations of the captured population to standard final states studied by IceCube, we place limits on them from measurements at IceCube and Super-Kamiokande of the fluxes of solar-direction and atmospheric neutrinos. We show that large ranges of dark matter masses around the weak scale that explain the LZ event are ruled out in this scenario, with the strongest limits placed by direct annihilations to neutrino-antineutrino final states.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

LHAASO Galactic Plane $γ$-rays Strongly Constrain Heavy Dark Matter

LHAASO, a ground-based observatory, is unveiling new frontiers in our understanding of high-energy $γ-$rays and cosmic rays. It has recently observed high energy diffuse $γ-$rays from the Galactic plane in the TeV-PeV range. For the first time, we analyze this data to search for signatures of heavy decaying and annihilating dark matter in the mass range $10^{5}-10^{11}$ GeV. We compute the expected photon flux from both Galactic and extragalactic dark matter, incorporating attenuation due to photon pair production. For the Galactic contribution, we include both prompt photons and secondary photons produced via inverse Compton scattering, accounting for electron/positron propagation. For the extragalactic component, in addition to the prompt and inverse Compton contributions, we also include cascade photons arising from inverse Compton scattering of pair-produced electrons and positrons. By combining all these contributions, we derive constraints on the dark matter parameter space. Our bounds for various two body Standard Model final states are strongest to date. This underscore LHAASO's capability to discover the nature of heavy dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Dive deeper with SUBMARINE: SUB-Mev dArk matter diRect detectIon using bilayer grapheNE

Novel target materials with anisotropic response will play a key role in detecting low-mass dark matter in upcoming experiments. Bilayer graphene is one such material that has been proposed for the detection of sub-MeV mass dark matter particles via electronic excitations. In this work, we calculate scattering rate via a massive mediator in bilayer graphene. With an exposure as small as $\sim$ 0.5 mg-year, bilayer graphene can probe new regions of the parameter space. The anisotropic response function of bilayer graphene leads to a sidereal-day modulation in the scattering rate, depending on its orientation with respect to the Galactic dark matter wind. We find significant modulation in the scattering rate for sub-MeV mass dark matter, demonstrating bilayer graphene's promise for a future experiment. We hope that our work will motivate the community to investigate bilayer graphene as a novel target material, and that it may lead us to discover the particle nature of dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

First constraint on the weak mixing angle using direct detection experiments

Current ton-scale dark matter direct detection experiments have reached an important milestone with the detection of solar neutrinos. In this paper, we show that these data can be used to determine a critical parameter of the Standard Model in particle physics, across an energy regime that has never been probed before. In particular, we show that the value of the weak mixing angle ($θ_W$) which relates the mass of the $W$ and $Z$ bosons can be derived from 1) the recent measurements of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering by PandaX-4T and XENONnT in the sub-GeV energy range -- a regime which is usually only probed by low energy neutrino experiments -- and from 2) XENONnT electron recoil data through neutrino-electron scattering at energy scale $\simeq 0.1 ~ \rm{ MeV}$, corresponding to a momentum transfer region over an order of magnitude smaller than that explored by atomic parity violation experiments. Now that an indicative measurement of the weak mixing angle exists at these lowest energy frontier, the challenge for the next generation of such experiments will be to provide a more precise measurement in the keV-MeV energy range.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Neutrinos from the Sun can discover dark matter-electron scattering

We probe dark matter-electron scattering using high-energy neutrino observations from the Sun. Dark matter (DM) interacting with electrons can get captured inside the Sun. These captured DM may annihilate to produce different Standard Model (SM) particles. Neutrinos produced from these SM states can be observed in IceCube and DeepCore. Although there is no excess of neutrinos in the solar direction, we find that the current datasets of IceCube and DeepCore set the strongest constraint on the DM-electron scattering cross section in the DM mass range $10$\,GeV to $10^5$\,GeV. Therefore our work implies that future observations of the Sun by neutrino telescopes have the potential to discover the DM-electron interaction.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Neutrinos as background and signal in searches using the Migdal effect

Ionization or excitation resulting from the noninstantaneous response of the electron cloud to nuclear recoil is known as the Migdal effect. Dark matter searches utilizing this process set the most stringent bounds on the spin-independent dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section over a large region of the sub-GeV dark matter parameter space, underscoring its significance in dark matter detection. In this paper, we quantify the regions of dark matter parameter space that are challenging to probe via the Migdal effect due to the presence of dominant solar neutrino backgrounds for both liquid noble and semiconductor targets. Our findings reveal that there is no hard floor in the dark matter parameter space. Instead, we map the so-called neutrino fog. In mapping the neutrino fog, we identify the importance of incorporating the Migdal effect induced by neutrinos, as well as neutrino-electron scattering and dominant coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, particularly for semiconductor targets. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a large portion of the relic density allowed parameter space lies within the neutrino fog. Finally, we estimate the exposure required to detect neutrino-induced Migdal events in direct detection experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

$ν$ limits from Super-Kamiokande on dark matter-electron scattering in the Sun

Particle dark matter scattering on electrons in the Sun may gravitationally capture and self-annihilate inside it to neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, or other final states that in turn decay to them. Using up-to-date measurements by Super-Kamiokande of the fluxes of atmospheric electron-type and muon-type neutrinos, we set the most stringent limits on the electron scattering cross sections of dark matter down to about $10^{-40}-10^{-39}$ cm$^2$ over a mass range of 4$-$200 GeV. These outdo direct searches for dark matter-electron scattering and previously set limits at IceCube. We also derive corresponding reaches at Hyper-K, and show that atmospheric neutrino observations restricted to the direction of the Sun can improve sensitivities.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Bounds on ultralight bosons from the Event Horizon Telescope observation of Sgr A$^*$

Recent observation of Sagittarius A$^*$ (Sgr A$^*$) by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has uncovered various unanswered questions in black hole (BH) physics. Besides, it may also probe various beyond the Standard Model (BSM) scenarios. One of the most profound possibilities is the search for ultralight bosons (ULBs) using BH superradiance (SR). EHT observations imply that Sgr A$^*$ has a non-zero spin. Using this observation, we derive bounds on the mass of ULBs with purely gravitational interactions. Considering self-interacting ultralight axions, we constrain new regions in the parameter space of decay constant, for a certain spin of Sgr A$^*$. Future observations of various spinning BHs can improve the present constraints on ULBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

The neutrino fog for dark matter-electron scattering experiments

The search for sub-GeV dark matter via scattering on electrons has ramped up in the last few years. Like in the case of dark matter scattering on nuclei, electron-recoil-based searches also face an ultimate background in the form of neutrinos. The so-called ``neutrino fog'' refers to the range of open dark-matter parameter space where the background of neutrinos can potentially prevent a conclusive discovery claim of a dark matter signal from being made. In this study, we map the neutrino fog for a range of electron recoil experiments based on silicon, germanium, xenon and argon targets. In analogy to the nuclear recoil case, we also calculate the ''edge'' to the neutrino fog, which can be used as a visual guide to where neutrinos become an important background -- this boundary excludes some parts of the key theory milestones used to motivate these experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Cosmic-ray boosted dark matter in Xe-based direct detection experiments

LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) collaboration has achieved the strongest constraint on weak-scale dark matter (DM)-nucleon spin-independent (SI) scattering cross section in a large region of parameter space. In this paper, we take a complementary approach and study the prospect of detecting cosmic-ray boosted sub-GeV DM in LZ. In the absence of a signal for DM, we improve upon the previous constraints by a factor of $\sim 2$ using the LZ result for some regions of the parameter space. We also show that upcoming XENONnT and future Darwin experiments will be sensitive to cross sections smaller by factors of $\sim 3$ and $\sim 10$ compared to the current LZ limit, respectively.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Dark matter substructures affect dark matter-electron scattering in xenon-based direct detection experiments

Recent sky surveys have discovered a large number of stellar substructures. It is highly likely that there are dark matter (DM) counterparts to these stellar substructures. We examine the implications of DM substructures for electron recoil (ER) direct detection (DD) rates in dual phase xenon experiments. We have utilized the results of the LAMOST survey and considered a few benchmark substructures in our analysis. Assuming that these substructures constitute $\sim 10\%$ of the local DM density, we study the discovery limits of DM-electron scattering cross sections considering one kg-year exposure and 1, 2, and 3 electron thresholds. With this exposure and threshold, it is possible to observe the effect of the considered DM substructure for the currently allowed parameter space. We also explore the sensitivity of these experiments in resolving the DM substructure fraction. For all the considered cases, we observe that DM having mass $\mathcal{O}(10)\,$MeV has a better prospect in resolving substructure fraction as compared to $\mathcal{O}(100)\,$MeV scale DM. We also find that within the currently allowed DM-electron scattering cross-section; these experiments can resolve the substructure fraction (provided it has a non-negligible contribution to the local DM density) with good accuracy for $\mathcal{O}(10)\,$MeV DM mass with one electron threshold.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Solar constraints on captured electrophilic dark matter

Dark matter captured by interaction with electrons inside the Sun may annihilate via long-lived mediator to produce observable gamma ray signals. We utilize solar gamma ray flux measurements from the Fermi Large Area Telescope and High Altitude Water Cherenkov observatory to put bounds on the dark matter electron scattering cross-section. We find that our limits are four to six orders of magnitude stronger than the existing limits for dark matter masses ranging between GeV to PeV scale.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Neutrinos from captured dark matter annihilation in a galactic population of neutron stars

Particulate dark matter captured by a population of neutron stars distributed around the galactic center while annihilating through long-lived mediators can give rise to an observable neutrino flux. We examine the prospect of an idealised gigaton detector like IceCube/KM3NeT in probing such scenarios. Within this framework, we report an improved reach in spin-dependent and spin-independent dark matter nucleon cross-section below the current limits for dark matter masses in the TeV-PeV range.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Search for dark matter using sub-PeV $\boldsymbolγ$-rays observed by Tibet AS$_{\boldsymbolγ}$

The discovery of diffuse sub-PeV gamma-rays by the Tibet AS$_γ$ Collaboration promises to revolutionize our understanding of the high-energy astrophysical universe. It has been shown that these data broadly agree with prior theoretical expectations. We study the impact of this discovery on a well-motivated new physics scenario: PeV-scale decaying dark matter (DM). Considering a wide range of final states in DM decay, a number of DM density profiles, and numerous astrophysical background models, we find that these data provide the most stringent limit on DM lifetime for various Standard Model final states. In particular, we find that the strongest constraints are derived for DM masses in between a few PeV to a few tens of PeV. Near-future data of these high-energy gamma-rays can be used to discover PeV-scale decaying DM.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Halo uncertainties in electron recoil events at direct detection experiments

The dark matter direct detection rates are highly correlated with the phase space distribution of dark matter particles in our galactic neighbourhood. In this paper, we make a systematic study of the impact of astrophysical uncertainties on electron recoil events at the direct detection experiments with Xenon and semiconductor detectors. We find that within the standard halo model there can be up to $ \sim 50\%$ deviation from the fiducial choice in the exclusion bounds from these observational uncertainties. For non-standard halo models, we report a similar deviation from the fiducial standard halo model when fitted with recent cosmological $N$-body simulations while even larger deviations are obtained in case of the observational uncertainties.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Detecting Bosonic Dark Matter with Neutron Stars

What if the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section is too small to be detected by direct detection experiments? It is well known in the literature that some interactions lead to dark matter-nucleon scattering cross sections that can be velocity and momentum suppressed. We show that in the case of bosonic dark matter, neutron star spectroscopy offers a possible detection. Firstly, we discuss the case of scalar dark matter with scalar, pseudoscalar, and vector mediators. Later, we do this exercise for vector dark matter. We show that, depending on the nature of dark matter and the interaction involved, neutron stars can improve the sensitivity on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section by orders of magnitude, representing a major step forward in the dark matter siege.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Prospects of Migdal Effect in the Explanation of XENON1T Electron Recoil Excess

The XENON1T experiment has recently announced the observation of an excess in electron recoil events at energy range of $1-7$ keV with a $3.5~σ$ signal significance over the Standard Model prediction. In this letter we sketch the prospects of explaining such an excess from Migdal ionization events with below threshold nuclear recoil energies. Interestingly, these are expected to show signal events in the ballpark energy scale of the observed excess. We demonstrate that the observed signal can be reproduced through the Migdal effect by an $\mathcal{O}(1)$ GeV neutron-philic dark matter having a spin-dependent coupling with the nucleus. A more optimistic scenario is explored where the Migdal ionization is driven by MeV scale boosted dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Exchange driven freeze out of dark matter

We introduce a novel mechanism where processes that preserve the number density of the dark sector set the relic density of a thermal particulate dark matter. In a relatively degenerate multipartite dark sector if there is a considerable time lapse between the freeze out of various species then a process like exchange between dark sector constituents can play the pivotal role of driving freeze out and setting dark matter relic density. As a proof of principle, we present simple scalar models with viable dark matter in the GeV scale to demonstrate this phenomenon.

hep-ph↗