Probing spin-dependent dark matter interactions with $$^6$$Li
G. Angloher, G. Benato, A. Bento, E. Bertoldo, A. Bertolini, R. Breier, C. Bucci, L. Canonica, A. D’Addabbo, S. Di Lorenzo, L. Einfalt, A. Erb, F. von Feilitzsch, N. Ferreiro Iachellini, S. Fichtinger, D. Fuchs, A. Fuss, Abhijit Garai, V. M. Ghete, P. Gorla, Subham Gupta, D. Hauff, M. Jes̆kovský, J. Jochum, M. Kaznacheeva, A. Kinast, H. Kluck, H. Kraus, A. Langenkämper, M. Mancuso, L. Marini, V. Mokina, A. Nilima, M. Olmi, T. Ortmann, C. Pagliarone, Veronika Palušová, L. Pattavina, F. Petricca, W. Potzel, Pavel P. Povinec, F. Pröbst, F. Pucci, F. Reindl, J. Rothe, K. Schäffner, J. Schieck, D. Schmiedmayer, S. Schönert, C. Schwertner, M. Stahlberg, L. Stodolsky, C. Strandhagen, R. Strauß, I. Usherov, F. Wagner, M. Willers, V. Zema
Abstract
Abstract CRESST is one of the most prominent direct detection experiments for dark matter particles with sub-GeV/c $$^2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:math> mass. One of the advantages of the CRESST experiment is the possibility to include a large variety of nuclides in the target material used to probe dark matter interactions. In this work, we discuss in particular the interactions of dark matter particles with protons and neutrons of $$^{6}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>6</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:math> Li. This is now possible thanks to new calculations on nuclear matrix elements of this specific isotope of Li. To show the potential of using this particular nuclide for probing dark matter interactions, we used the data collected previously by a CRESST prototype based on LiAlO $$_2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> and operated in an above ground test-facility at Max-Planck-Institut für Physik in Munich, Germany. In particular, the inclusion of $$^{6}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>6</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:math> Li in the limit calculation drastically improves the result obtained for spin-dependent interactions with neutrons in the whole mass range. The improvement is significant, greater than two order of magnitude for dark matter masses below 1 GeV/c $$^2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:math> , compared to the limit previously published with the same data.