Constraining self-interacting dark matter with the full dataset of PandaX-Ⅱ

作者:Jijun Yang; Abdusalam Abdukerim; Wei Chen; Xun Chen; Yunhua Chen; Chen Cheng; Xiangyi Cui; Yingjie Fan; Deqing Fang; Changbo Fu; Mengting Fu; Lisheng Geng; Karl Giboni; Linhui Gu; Xuyuan Guo; Ke Han; Changda He; Shengming He; Di Huang; Yan Huang; Ran Huo; Yanlin Huang; Zhou Huang; Xiangdong Ji; Yonglin Ju; Shuaijie Li; Qing Lin; Huaxuan Liu; Jianglai Liu; Xiaoying Lu; Wenbo Ma; Yugang Ma; Yajun Mao; Yue Meng; Nasir Shaheed; Kaixiang Ni; Jinhua Ning; Xuyang Ning; Xiangxiang Ren; Changsong Shang
来源:Science China Physics,Mechanics & Astronomy, 2022, 64(11): 6-11.

摘要

Self-interacting dark matter(SIDM) is a leading candidate proposed to solve discrepancies between predictions of the prevailing cold dark matter theory and observations of galaxies. Many SIDM models predict the existence of a light force carrier that mediates strong dark matter self-interactions. If the mediator couples to the standard model particles, it could produce characteristic signals in dark matter direct detection experiments. We report searches for signals of SIDM models with a light mediator using the full dataset of the PandaX-Ⅱ experiment, basing on a total exposure of 132 tonne-days. No significant excess over background is found, and our likelihood analysis leads to a strong upper limit on the dark matter-nucleon coupling strength. We further combine the PandaX-Ⅱ constraints and those from observations of the light element abundances in the early universe, and show that direct detection and cosmological probes can provide complementary constraints on dark matter models with a light mediator.