Speaker
Description
In the first part of this talk, I will estimate the maximum direct detection cross section for sub-GeV dark matter scattering off nucleons. For dark matter masses in the range of 10 keV − 100 MeV, cross sections greater than $10^{−36} - 10^{−30} \text{cm}^2$ seem implausible. I'll introduce a dark matter candidate which realizes this maximum cross section: HighlY interactive ParticlE Relics (HYPERs). After HYPERs freeze-in, a dark sector phase transition decreases the mass of the mediator which connects HYPERs to the visible sector. This increases the HYPER’s direct detection cross section, but in such a way as to leave the HYPER’s abundance unaffected and avoid conflict with measurements of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the Cosmic Microwave Background. HYPERs present a benchmark for direct detection experiments in a parameter space with few known dark matter models.
In the last part of the talk, I will consider an arguably simpler benchmark for direct detection: UV freeze-in dark matter at low reheating temperatures. I will present new work on simple UV completions of such a scenario and show how obtaining the correct relic abundance can predict detectable cross sections while evading collider and meson-decay bounds.
