Remarks on bosonic super-WIMP search experiments

Abstract

Bosonic super-weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), including pseudoscalar and vector particles, are dark-matter candidates. To date, many underground experiments searches for super-WIMPs have been performed in the mass range of a few keV/c2 to 1 MeV/c2. All these searches utilize the absorption process of a super-WIMP by a target atom in the detector, which is similar to the photoelectric effect. We consider another process-namely, a Compton-like process. As an example, we compare the cross section of a germanium atom for the absorption process with that of a Compton-like process. Our findings indicate that the cross section for the Compton-like process becomes dominant relative to that for the absorption process for mass above approximately 150 keV/c2 for both pseudoscalar and vector superWIMPs. In particular, the cross section for the Compton-like process for a vector super-WIMP becomes increasingly greater than that for the absorption process by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude in the 400 keV/c2 to 1 MeV/c2 mass range, respectively. By including the Compton-like process, which has not been used in any other super-WIMP search experiments, the experimental upper limits can be improved.