Description
Direct detection experiments aim to detect the interaction of Galactic Dark Matter (DM) with terrestrial nuclei. But many of these DM particles will pass through the Earth before reaching the detector. During this transit, they may interact and scatter, altering their distribution at the Earth's surface. I will sketch the first fully self-consistent calculation of this ‘Earth-Shadowing’ effect, taking into account DM particle deflection and assuming the most general DM-nucleus interactions. Remarkably, in some scenarios, Earth-Shadowing can actually increase the DM flux, while in others the flux is depleted. I will explore the impact this has on current constraints on light DM and on strongly interacting DM, as well as hinting at some interesting modulation and directional signatures.
