ASTROPHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY RELATED TO PARTICLES AND NUCLEI

Effects of nuclear deformation on the form factor for direct dark matter detection

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2012 Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation Chen Ya-Zheng et al 2012 Chinese Phys. C 36 505 DOI 10.1088/1674-1137/36/6/005

1674-1137/36/6/505

Abstract

For the detection of direct dark matter, in order to extract useful information about the fundamental interactions from the data, it is crucial to properly determine the nuclear form factor. The form factor for the spin-independent cross section of collisions between dark matter particles and the nucleus has been thoroughly studied by many authors. When the analysis was carried out, the nuclei were always supposed to be spherically symmetric. In this work, we investigate the effects of the deformation of nuclei from a spherical shape to an elliptical one on the form factor. Our results indicate that as long as the ellipticity is not too large, such deformation will not cause any substantial effects. In particular, when the nuclei are randomly orientated in room-temperature circumstances, one can completely neglect them.

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10.1088/1674-1137/36/6/005