Search results for "atom: wave function"

Electron-interacting dark matter: Implications from DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 and prospects for liquid xenon detectors and NaI detectors

2019

We investigate the possibility for the direct detection of low-mass (GeV scale) weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) dark matter in scintillation experiments. Such WIMPs are typically too light to leave appreciable nuclear recoils but may be detected via their scattering off atomic electrons. In particular, the DAMA Collaboration [R. Bernabei et al., Nucl. Phys. At. Energy 19, 307 (2018)] has recently presented strong evidence of an annual modulation in the scintillation rate observed at energies as low as 1 keV. Despite a strong enhancement in the calculated event rate at low energies, we find that an interpretation in terms of electron-interacting WIMPs cannot be consistent with ex…