1111.6361 (Nassim Bozorgnia et al.)

Ring-like features in directional dark matter detection    [PDF]

Nassim Bozorgnia, Graciela B. Gelmini, Paolo Gondolo

We discuss a novel dark matter signature relevant for directional detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). For heavy enough WIMPs and low enough recoil energies, the maximum of the recoil rate is not in the direction of the average WIMP arrival direction but in a ring around it at an angular aperture that increases with the WIMP mass and can approach 90 degrees at very low energies. The ring is easier to detect at smaller WIMP velocity dispersions and larger average WIMP velocities relative to the detector. The ring could be used to infer the WIMP mass.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.6361