arXiv subjects

Zheng-Liang Liang

Publications and source records attributed to Zheng-Liang Liang.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Mean-Field Approach to the Dielectric Response of Bulk Superconductors for Light Dark Matter Direct Detection

The dielectric function is central to describing many-body screening effects in dark matter (DM) direct detection with condensed matter targets. Current superconducting detector analyses employ the free-electron Lindhard dielectric function to model in-medium effects, an approximation whose validity in the superconducting state remains untested. We derive the electronic dielectric function for bulk superconductors within the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) framework, incorporating the full Bogoliubov quasiparticle coherence factors in the random-phase approximation. A systematic comparison with the Lindhard function for aluminum and tungsten silicide (WSi) reveals good agreement for energy depositions $ω\gtrsim5Δ$, establishing the Lindhard function as a robust approximation for superconducting DM detectors operating in this regime.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Dielectric Response for Light Dark Matter Direct Detection Beyond the Longitudinal Approximation

The dielectric formalism for light dark matter--electron scattering in semiconductors has, to date, employed only the longitudinal dielectric function $ε_L$, with the transverse response $ε_T$ universally neglected on qualitative grounds. A complete derivation and quantitative evaluation of $ε_T$ in this context has been lacking. We provide this derivation within the random phase approximation for a homogeneous electron gas. For silicon, we find that the transverse energy loss function is $4--6$ orders of magnitude below the longitudinal one in the bulk plasmon regime, providing the first rigorous justification for the conventional longitudinal approximation. The sizable transverse corrections appear for deposited energies $ω\lesssim1\,\mathrm{eV}$, which lies below the energy required to reliably produce one electron-hole pair in silicon detectors. Our results provide a quantitative error assessment for existing longitudinal calculations and identify kinematic regimes where transverse corrections ought to be included for relativistic dark-matter interpretations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Cutting rules for non-relativistic dark matter in solids based on Kohn-Sham orbitals

The Cutkosky cutting rules establish a direct connection between the imaginary parts of loop amplitudes and physical observables such as decay rates and cross sections, providing heuristic insights into the underlying processes. This work lays a robust theoretical foundation for the application of cutting rules in solid-state systems involving instantaneous dark matter (DM)-electron Yukawa interaction as well as the Coulomb potential. The cutting rules are formulated using the single-electron wavefunctions and corresponding energy eigenvalues obtained from the Kohn-Sham equations within density functional theory (DFT). This framework is not only of considerable theoretical interest but also holds significant practical relevance for studying DM phenomenology in condensed matter systems.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Plasmon-enhanced Direct Detection Method for Boosted sub-MeV Dark Matter

Plasmon, a collective mode of electronic excitation in solid-state detectors, provides a novel way to detect light dark matter (DM). In this work, we present the conditions of DM to produce plasmon resonance, requiring relativistic velocities for light DM, and generalize the collective excitation framework to account for relativistic DM. As a demonstration, we consider the cosmic ray boosted DM (CRDM) and find that the plasmon resonance can be significantly enhanced in the scenario with a light mediator. Utilizing the first data from SENSEI experiment with the skipper-CCDs at SNOLAB, we obtain a new strong limit on the sub-MeV DM-electron scattering cross section.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Dynamic solar Primakoff process

The Primakoff mechanism is one of the primary channels for the production of solar axion. In canonical estimation of the Primakoff photon-axion conversion rate, the recoil effect is neglected and a static structure factor is adopted. By use of the linear response theory, we provide a dynamic description of the solar Primakoff process. It is found that the collective electrons overtake ions as the dominant factor, in contrast to the static screening picture where ions contribute more to the photon-axion conversion. Nonetheless, the resulting axion flux is only 1-2% lower than the standard estimate based on the static structure factor.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

The linear response theory approach to the sub-GeV dark matter in the Sun

In recent years, the importance of the electronic in-medium effect in the sub-GeV dark matter (DM) direct detection has been recognized and a coherent formulation of the DM-electron scattering based the linear response theory has been well established in the literature. In this paper, we apply the formulation to the scattering between DM particles and solar medium, and it is found that the dynamic structure factor inherently incorporate the particle-particle scattering and in-medium effect. Using this tool and taking a benchmark model as an example, we demonstrate how the in-medium effect affect the scattering of DM particles in the Sun, in both the heavy and light mediator limit. Formulae derived in this work lay the foundation for accurately calculating the spectra of solar-accelerated DM particles, which is of particular importance for the detection of DM particles via plasmon in semiconductor targets.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Phonon-mediated Migdal effect in semiconductor detectors

The Migdal effect inside detectors provides a new possibility of probing the sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles. While there has been well-established methods treating the Migdal effect in isolated atoms, a coherent and complete description of the valence electrons in semiconductor is still absent. The bremstrahlung-like approach is a promising attempt, but it turns invalid for DM masses below a few tens of MeV. In this paper, we lay out a framework where phonon is chosen as an effective degree of freedom to describe the Migdal effect in semiconductors. In this picture, a valence electron is excited to the conduction state via exchange of a virtual phonon, accompanied by a multi-phonon process triggered by an incident DM particle. Under the incoherent approximation, it turns out that this approach can effectively push the sensitivities of the semiconductor targets further down to the MeV DM mass region.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

In-medium screening effects for the Galactic halo and solar-reflected dark matter detection in semiconductor targets

Recently, the importance of the electronic many-body effect in the dark matter (DM) detection has been recognized and a coherent formulation of the DM-electron scattering in terms of the dielectric response of the target material has been well established in literatures. In this paper, we put relevant formulas into practical density functional theory (DFT) estimation of the excitation event rates for the diamond and silicon semiconductor targets. Moreover, we compare the event rates calculated from the energy loss functions with and without the local field effects. For a consistency check of this numerical method, we also compare the differential spectrum and detection reach of the silicon with those computed with the $\mathtt{GPAW}$ code. It turns out that this DFT approach is quite consistent and robust. As an interesting extension, we also investigate the in-medium effect on the detection of the solar-reflected DM flux in silicon-based detectors, where the screening effect is found to be also remarkable in the optically thick regime, and to turn insignificant in the optically thin regime, depending on the energies of the reflected DM particles.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Describing the Migdal effect with a bremsstrahlung-like process and many-body effects

Recent theoretical studies have suggested that the suddenly recoiled atom struck by dark matter (DM) particle is much more likely to excite or lose its electrons than expected. Such Migdal effect provides a new avenue for exploring the sub-GeV DM particles. There have been various attempts to describe the Migdal effect in liquids and semiconductor targets. In this paper we incorporate the treatment of the bremsstrahlung process and the electronic many-body effects to give a full description of the Migdal effect in bulk semiconductor targets diamond and silicon. Compared with the results obtained with the atom-centered localized Wannier functions (WFs) under the framework of the tight-binding (TB) approximation, the method proposed in this study yields much larger event rates in the low energy regime, due to a $ω^{-4}$ scaling. We also find that the effect of the bremsstrahlung photon mediating the Coulomb interaction between recoiled ion and the electron-hole pair is equivalent to that of the exchange of a single phonon.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Describing Migdal effects in diamond crystal with atom-centered localized Wannier functions

Recent studies have theoretically investigated the atomic excitation and ionization induced by the dark matter (DM)-nucleus scattering, and it is found that the suddenly recoiled atom is much more likely to excite or lose its electrons than expected. Such phenomenon is called the "Migdal effect". In this paper, we extend the established strategy to describe the Migdal effect in isolated atoms to the case in semiconductors under the framework of tight-binding (TB) approximation. Since the localized aspects of electrons are respected in form of the Wannier functions (WFs), the extension of the existing Migdal approach for isolated atoms is much more natural, while the extensive nature of electrons in solids is reflected in the hopping integrals. We take diamond target as a concrete proof of principle for the methodology, and calculate relevant energy spectra and projected sensitivity of such diamond detector. It turns out that our method as a preliminary attempt is practically effective.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

The wavefunction reconstruction effects in calculation of DM-induced electronic transition in semiconductor targets

The physics of the electronic excitation in semiconductors induced by sub-GeV dark matter (DM) have been extensively discussed in literature, under the framework of the standard plane wave (PW) and pseudopotential calculation scheme. In this paper, we investigate the implication of the all-electron (AE) reconstruction on estimation of the DM-induced electronic transition event rates. As a benchmark study, we first calculate the wavefunctions in silicon and germanium bulk crystals based on both the AE and pseudo (PS) schemes within the projector augmented wave (PAW) framework, and then make comparisons between the calculated excitation event rates obtained from these two approaches. It turns out that in process where large momentum transfer is kinetically allowed, the two calculated event rates can differ by a factor of a few. Such discrepancies are found to stem from the high-momentum components neglected in the PS scheme. It is thus implied that the correction from the AE wavefunction in the core region is necessary for an accurate estimate of the DM-induced transition event rate in semiconductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

The leptophilic dark matter in the Sun: the minimum testable mass

The physics of the solar dark matter (DM) that are captured and thermalise through the DM-nucleon interaction has been extensively studied. In this work, we consider the leptophilic DM scenario where the DM particles interact exclusively with the electrons through the axial-vector coupling. We investigate relevant phenomenologies in the Sun, including its capture, evaporation and thermalisation, and we calculate the equilibrium distribution using the Monte Carlo methods, rather than adopting a semi-analytic approximation. Based on the analysis, we then determine the minimum testable mass for which the DM-electron coupling strength can be probed via the neutrino observation. Compared to the case of the DM-nucleon interaction, it turns out that minimum detectable mass of the DM-electron interaction is roughly 1 GeV smaller, and a cross section about two orders of magnitude larger is required for the saturation of the annihilation signal.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

On the evaporation of solar dark matter: spin-independent effective operators

As a part of the effort to investigate the implications of dark matter (DM)-nucleon effective interactions on the solar DM detection, in this paper we focus on the evaporation of the solar DM for a set of the DM-nucleon spin-independent (SI) effective operators. In order to put the evaluation of the evaporation rate on a more reliable ground, we calculate the non-thermal distribution of the solar DM using the Monte Carlo methods, rather than adopting the Maxwellian approximation. We then specify relevant signal parameter spaces for the solar DM detection for various SI effective operators. Based on the analysis, we determine the minimum DM masses for which the DM-nucleon coupling strengths can be probed from the solar neutrino observations. As an interesting application, our investigation also shows that evaporation effect can not be neglectd in a recent proposal aiming to solve the solar abundance problem by invoking the momentum-dependent asymmetric DM in the Sun.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Long-range self-interacting dark matter in the Sun

We investigate the implications of the long-rang self-interaction on both the self-capture and the annihilation of the self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) trapped in the Sun. Our discussion is based on a specific SIDM model in which DM particles self-interact via a light scalar mediator, or Yukawa potential, in the context of quantum mechanics. Within this framework, we calculate the self-capture rate across a broad region of parameter space. While the self-capture rate can be obtained separately in the Born regime with perturbative method, and the classical limits with the Rutherford formula, our calculation covers the gap between in a non-perturbative fashion. Besides, the phenomelogy of both the Sommerfeld-enhanced s- and p-wave annihilation of the solar SIDM is also involved in our discussion. Moreover, by combining the analysis of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) data and the observed DM relic density, we constrain the nuclear capture rate of the DM particles in the presence of the dark Yukawa potential. The consequence of the long-range dark force on probing the solar SIDM turns out to be significant if the force-carrier is much lighter than the DM particle, and a quantitative analysis is provided.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Direct detection and solar capture of spin-dependent dark matter

We investigate the implication of different spin-dependent (SD) operators on both the direct and indirect detections of the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). Six representative building blocks of SD operators, together with their counterparts with a massless mediator are considered to interpret the direct detection experiments(Xenon100, SIMPLE, and COUPP) in a comprehensive way. We also study the solar capture and annihilation of WIMPs with these effective SD operators and place the constraints on the relevant annihilation rate from neutrino detection experiments Super-Kamionkande and IceCube. Upper limits on the WIMP-nucleon couplings drawn from direct detections are also projected to the annihilation rate for contrast and complementarity. We find that the efficiency of these mentioned detection strategies depends specifically on the six SD operators, while the neutrino-based detections are more effective in exploring the parameter space for the massless mediator scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Direct detection and solar capture of dark matter with momentum and velocity dependent elastic scattering

We explore the momentum and velocity dependent elastic scattering between the dark matter (DM) particles and the nuclei in detectors and the Sun. In terms of the non-relativistic effective theory, we phenomenologically discuss ten kinds of momentum and velocity dependent DM-nucleus interactions and recalculate the corresponding upper limits on the spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering cross section from the current direct detection experiments. The DM solar capture rate is calculated for each interaction. Our numerical results show that the momentum and velocity dependent cases can give larger solar capture rate than the usual contact interaction case for almost the whole parameter space. On the other hand, we deduce the Super-Kamiokande's constraints on the solar capture rate for eight typical DM annihilation channels. In contrast to the usual contact interaction, the Super-Kamiokande and IceCube experiments can give more stringent limits on the DM-nucleon elastic scattering cross section than the current direct detection experiments for several momentum and velocity dependent DM-nucleus interactions. In addition, we investigate the mediator mass's effect on the DM elastic scattering cross section and solar capture rate.

hep-ph↗