IceCube at the frontier of macroscopic dark matter direct detection

For a class of macroscopic dark matter models, inelastic scattering of dark matter off a nucleus can generate electromagnetic signatures with GeV-scale energy. The IceCube detector, with its kilometer-scale size, is ideal for directly detecting such inelastic scattering. Based on the slow particle trigger for the DeepCore detector, we perform a detailed signal and background simulation to estimate the discovery potential. For order 1 GeV deposited energy in each interaction, we find that IceCube can probe the dark matter masses up to one gram.

Automated summary

A study finds that inelastic scattering of dark matter off a nucleus can generate electromagnetic signals with GeV-scale energy, which can be directly detected by the IceCube detector. With detailed signal and background simulations, it is discovered that IceCube can probe dark matter masses up to one gram, assuming approximately 1 GeV deposited energy in each interaction.