Ultraheavy multiscattering dark matter: DUNE, CYGNUS, other kilotonne detectors, and tidal streams

Abstract

In direct searches of dark matter, multiscatter signatures are now being sought to probe scattering cross sections that are large enough to make the detector optically thick to incident particles. We provide some significant updates to the multiscatter program. Using considerations of energy deposition, we derive the reaches in cross section and mass of various proposed large-volume detectors: a kilotonne fiducial mass “module of opportunity” at DUNE, a kilotonne xenon detector suggested for neutrinoless double beta decay, the gaseous detector CYGNUS, and the dark matter detectors XLZD and Argo. Where the velocity vector can be reconstructed event-by-event, the Galactic dark matter velocity distribution may be inferred. We exploit this to show that halo substructure such as tidal streams can be picked up if they make up about 10% of the local dark matter density. Published by the American Physical Society 2025