Determining the WIMP Mass from Direct Dark Matter Detection Data

Understand

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are one of the leading candidates for Dark Matter.

• So far we can use direct Dark Matter detection to estimate the mass of halo WIMPs only by fitting predicted recoil spectra to future experimental data.
• Here we develop a model-independent method for determining the WIMP mass by using experimental data directly.
• This method is independent of the as yet unknown WIMP density near the Earth as well as of the WIMP-nuclear cross section and can be used to extract information about WIMP mass with O(50) events.