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1. Search for Light Dark Matter in Low-Energy Ionization Signals from XENONnT

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.161004  

   Aprile, E; Aalbers, J; Abe, K; Ahmed_Maouloud, S; Althueser, L; Andrieu, B; Angelino, E; Antón_Martin, D; Arneodo, F; Baudis, L; et al (April 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   We report on a blinded search for dark matter with single- and few-electron signals in the first science run of XENONnT relying on a novel detector response framework that is physics model dependent. We derive 90% confidence upper limits for dark matter-electron interactions. Heavy and light mediator cases are considered for the standard halo model and dark matter up-scattered in the Sun. We set stringent new limits on dark matter-electron scattering via a heavy mediator with a mass within $10–20\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$and electron absorption of axionlike particles and dark photons for $m_{\chi }$below $0.03\mathrm{keV}/c^2$. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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2. Light dark matter constraints from SuperCDMS HVeV detectors operated underground with an anticoincidence event selection

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.012006  

   Albakry, M F; Alkhatib, I; Alonso-González, D; Amaral, D_W P; Anczarski, J; Aralis, T; Aramaki, T; Arnquist, I J; Ataee_Langroudy, I; Azadbakht, E; et al (January 2025, Physical Review D)

   This article presents constraints on dark-matter-electron interactions obtained from the first underground data-taking campaign with multiple SuperCDMS HVeV detectors operated in the same housing. An exposure of $7.63\mathrm{g}\text{−}\mathrm{days}$is used to set upper limits on the dark-matter-electron scattering cross section for dark matter masses between 0.5 and $1000\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$, as well as upper limits on dark photon kinetic mixing and axionlike particle axioelectric coupling for masses between 1.2 and $23.3\mathrm{eV}/c^2$. Compared to an earlier HVeV search, sensitivity was improved as a result of an increased overburden of 225 meters of water equivalent, an anticoincidence event selection, and better pile-up rejection. In the case of dark-matter-electron scattering via a heavy mediator, an improvement by up to a factor of 25 in cross section sensitivity was achieved. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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3. Fully ab-initio all-electron calculation of dark matter-electron scattering in crystals with evaluation of systematic uncertainties

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.115008  

   Dreyer, Cyrus E; Essig, Rouven; Fernandez-Serra, Marivi; Singal, Aman; Zhen, Cheng (June 2024, Physical Review D)

   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, $q\gtrsim \mathcal{O}\left(10\alpha m_e\right)$, compared to calculations using conventional plane wave methods, including those used in ; this enhances the expected event rates at energy transfers $E\gtrsim 10\mathrm{eV}$, 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, $\mathbf{k}$-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 

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4. Enhanced dark matter abundance in first-order phase transitions

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.115005  

   Allahverdi, Rouzbeh; Hauptmann, Cash; Huang, Peisi (December 2024, Physical Review D)

   We propose a novel scenario to obtain the correct relic abundance for thermally underproduced dark matter. This scenario utilizes a strongly first-order phase transition at temperature $T_{\mathrm{PT}}$that gives rise to dark matter mass $m$. Freeze-out in the broken phase can yield the desired abundance in the entire region currently allowed by observational bounds and theoretical constraints for ${10}^2{T}_{\mathrm{PT}}\lesssim m\lesssim {10}^4{T}_{\mathrm{PT}}$. We show that the accompanying gravitational waves are strong enough to be detected by many upcoming and proposed experiments. This, in tandem with dark matter indirect searches, provides a multimessenger probe of such models. Positive signals in the future can help reconstruct the potential governing the phase transition and shed light on an underlying particle physics realization. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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5. Dark Population Transfer Mechanism for Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.181002  

   Fuller, George M; Gráf, Lukáš; Patwardhan, Amol V; Spisak, Jacob (October 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   We present a mechanism for producing a cosmologically significant relic density of one or more sterile neutrinos. This scheme invokes two steps: First, a population of “heavy” sterile neutrinos is created by scattering-induced decoherence of active neutrinos. Second, this population is transferred, via sterile neutrino self-interaction-mediated scatterings and decays, to one or more lighter mass ( $\sim 10\mathrm{keV}$to $\sim 1\mathrm{GeV}$) sterile neutrinos that are far more weakly (or not at all) mixed with active species and could constitute dark matter. Dark matter produced this way can evade current electromagnetic and structure-based bounds, but may nevertheless be probed by future observations. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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