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SS25 – Abstract
Timothy Linden
(Stockholm University/ECAP)
3.7.2025
Celestial Bodies as Dark Matter Detectors
Terrestrial direct detection experiments have placed very strong constraints on any potential scattering cross-section between dark matter particles and standard model particles. However, the final sensitivity of these detectors are limited both by economic considerations, as well as the relatively narrow theory-target reach of such experiments -- which is focused on GeV-scale spin-independent dark matter/baryon scattering. The large mass of celestial bodies (e.g., planets, stars and compact objects) offer new possibilities to probe rare dark matter interactions. In this talk, I will discuss several exciting studies which show the potential for celestial bodies to provide leading constraints on the direct detection parameter space which are highly complementary to terrestrial experiments.
