Semi-annihilating Z3 dark matter for XENON1T excess

• Main Authors: P. Ko, Yong Tang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-04-01
• Series: Physics Letters B
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269321001210

The recently reported result from XENON1T experiment indicates that there is an excess with 3.5σ significance in the electronic recoil events. Interpreted as new physics, new sources are needed to account for the electronic scattering. We show that a dark fermion ψ with mass about O(10) MeV from semi-annihilation of Z3 dark matter X and subsequent decay of a dark gauge boson Vμ may be responsible for the excess. The relevant semi-annihilation process is X+X→X‾+Vμ(→ψ+ψ‾), in which the final ψ has a box-shape energy spectrum. The fast-moving ψ can scatter with electron through an additional gauge boson that mixes with photon kinetically. The shape of the signals in this model can be consistent with the observed excess. The additional interaction with proton makes this model testable in future searches for nucleus recoil as well. Because of the lightness of invisible particle introduced, this scenario requires non-standard cosmology to accommodate the additional radiation component.