Halo-independent tests of dark matter annual modulation signals

Abstract

New halo-independent lower bounds on the product of the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section and the local dark matter density that are valid for annual modulations of dark matter direct detection signals are derived. They are obtained by making use of halo-independent bounds based on an expansion of the rate on the Earth's velocity that were derived in previous works. In combination with astrophysical measurements of the local energy density, an observed annual modulation implies a lower bound on the cross section that is independent of the velocity distribution and that must be fulfilled by any particle physics model. In order to illustrate the power of the bounds we apply them to DAMA/LIBRA data and obtain quite strong results when compared to the standard halo model predictions. We also extend the bounds to the case of multi-target detectors.