Halo-independent tests of dark matter annual modulation signals

Understand

I derive new halo-independent lower bounds on the product of the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section and the local dark matter density that are valid for annual modulations of dark matter direct detection signals.

• They are obtained by making use of halo-independent bounds based on an expansion of the rate on the Earth's velocity that were derived in previous works.
• In combination with astrophysical measurements of the local energy density, an observed annual modulation implies a lower bound on the cross section that is independent of the velocity distribution and that must be fulfilled by any particle physics model.
• In order to illustrate the power of the bounds we apply them to DAMA/LIBRA data and obtain quite strong results when compared to the standard halo model predictions.