Neutrino roof: Single-scatter cross section ceilings in dark matter direct detection experiments

We identify the maximum cross sections probed by single-scatter weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) searches in dark matter direct detection. Owing to Poisson fluctuations in scatter multiplicity, these ceilings scale logarithmically with mass for heavy dark matter and often lie in regions probed by multiscatter searches. Using a generalized formula for single-scatter event rates we recast WIMP searches by the quintal-to-tonne scale detectors XENON1T, XENONnT, LZ, PANDAX-II, PANDAX-4T, DarkSide-50, and DEAP-3600 to obtain ceilings and floors up to a few <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mrow><a:msup><a:mrow><a:mn>10</a:mn></a:mrow><a:mrow><a:mn>17</a:mn></a:mrow></a:msup><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mi>GeV</a:mi></a:mrow></a:math> mass and <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><c:msup><c:mn>10</c:mn><c:mrow><c:mo>−</c:mo><c:mn>22</c:mn></c:mrow></c:msup><c:mtext> </c:mtext><c:mtext> </c:mtext><c:msup><c:mrow><c:mi>cm</c:mi></c:mrow><c:mrow><c:mn>2</c:mn></c:mrow></c:msup></c:math> per nucleus cross section. We do this for coherent, geometric, isospin-violating xenophobic and argophobic spin-independent scattering, and neutron-only and proton-only spin-dependent scattering. Future large-exposure detectors would register an almost irreducible background of atmospheric neutrinos that would determine a dark matter sensitivity ceiling that we call the “neutrino roof,” in analogy with the well-studied “neutrino floor.” Accounting for this background, we estimate the reaches of the 10–100 tonne scale DarkSide-20k, DARWIN/XLZD, PANDAX-xT, and Argo, which would probe many decades of unconstrained parameter space up to the Planck mass, as well as of <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><e:msup><e:mn>10</e:mn><e:mn>3</e:mn></e:msup><e:mi>–</e:mi><e:msup><e:mn>10</e:mn><e:mn>4</e:mn></e:msup><e:mtext> </e:mtext><e:mtext> </e:mtext><e:mi>tonne</e:mi></e:math> scale noble liquid detectors that have been proposed in synergy with neutrino experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024