Dark matter searches inside the neutrino fog

4 problems

• Does the measured solar 8B CEvNS rate in xenon match the Standard Model?

  Open

  Xenon dark matter detectors have begun to see solar neutrinos gently bumping whole xenon nuclei, a process called coherent scattering. The question is whether the measured rate equals the Standard Model prediction or hints at new neutrino interactions.

• How well is the sub-100 MeV atmospheric neutrino flux known?

  Open

  For heavy dark matter, the main neutrino background comes from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere and producing low-energy neutrinos, whose number is poorly measured. Better knowledge of this flux decides how deep heavy dark matter searches can go.

• Can recoil direction separate dark matter from solar neutrinos?

  Open

  Solar neutrinos push nuclei away from the Sun, while dark matter pushes them along Earth's path through the galaxy. A detector that measures recoil directions could tell them apart, if it can track recoils only a few keV in energy.

• Can direct detection reach thermal higgsino dark matter above the fog?

  Open

  A leading heavy dark matter candidate, the higgsino from supersymmetry, would weigh about 1.1 TeV and interact very weakly with nuclei. The question is whether its scattering rate lies above the neutrino background where detectors can still find it.