# Novel Direct Detection Constraints on Light Dark Matter

Bringmann, Torsten (Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Box 1048, N-0371 Oslo, Norway) ; Pospelov, Maxim (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2W9, Canada) (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8P 5C2, Canada)

02 May 2019

Abstract: All attempts to directly detect particle dark matter (DM) scattering on nuclei suffer from the partial or total loss of sensitivity for DM masses in the GeV range or below. We derive novel constraints from the inevitable existence of a subdominant, but highly energetic, component of DM generated through collisions with cosmic rays. Subsequent scattering inside conventional DM detectors, as well as neutrino detectors sensitive to nuclear recoils, limits the DM-nucleon scattering cross section to be below ${10}^{-31}\text{}\text{}{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for both spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering of light DM.

Published in: Physical Review Letters 122 (2019)