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Title: Fully ab-initio all-electron calculation of dark matter-electron scattering in crystals with evaluation of systematic uncertainties
We calculate target-material responses for dark matter–electron scattering at the all-electron level using atom-centered Gaussian basis sets. The all-electron effects enhance the material response at high momentum transfers from dark matter to electrons, q O ( 10 α m e ) , compared to calculations using conventional plane wave methods, including those used in ; this enhances the expected event rates at energy transfers E 10 eV , especially when scattering through heavy mediators. We carefully test a range of systematic uncertainties in the theory calculation, including those arising from the choice of basis set, exchange-correlation functional, number of unit cells in the Bloch sum, k -mesh, and neglect of scatters with very high momentum transfers. We provide state-of-the-art crystal form factors, focusing on silicon and germanium. Our code and results are made publicly available as a new tool, called (“”). Published by the American Physical Society2024  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2237674
PAR ID:
10562725
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
APS
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Physical Review D
Volume:
109
Issue:
11
ISSN:
2470-0010
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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