Solar capture and annihilation of fermionic and scalar dark matter motivated by the LUX-ZEPLIN high-recoil candidate
Abstract
Motivated by the LUX-ZEPLIN high-energy nuclear-recoil candidate, we ask whether solar evolution can distinguish dark-matter models that are degenerate in their leading xenon recoil response. We compare a split fermionic electroweak doublet with a specified inert scalar doublet, matching their masses, excitation energy, coherent transition interaction, and leading elastic nuclear response. This matching fixes the same direct-detection signal and the same optically thin first-capture source in the Sun, while leaving post-capture dynamics model dependent. We follow finite-temperature capture, orbital evolution, scattering, excited-state decay, escape, thermal entry, and annihilation. The different excited-state lifetimes generate distinct capture histories, but, for the specified cooling interaction, both retained populations thermalize and reach capture--annihilation equilibrium, yielding only a modest difference in their late annihilation rates. We also derive an analytic protected-capture criterion and test the result against shared halo, solar-composition, and nuclear-response variations. Although the total annihilation rates remain similar, model-dependent gauge-boson branching fractions and polarizations produce distinct neutrino spectra at production. A source-level comparison with published IceCube templates shows that the nominal partial WW sources exceed the corresponding pure-WW template limits, without constituting a detector-level exclusion or model discrimination. Solar evolution therefore provides a complementary probe of particle-model differences hidden by a matched xenon signal.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{capolupo2026solar,
title = {{Solar capture and annihilation of fermionic and scalar dark matter motivated by the LUX-ZEPLIN high-recoil candidate}},
author = {Antonio Capolupo and Gabriele Pisacane and Raoul Serao},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.28218},
eprint = {2609.28218},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28218},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Solar capture and annihilation of fermionic and scalar dark matter motivated by the LUX-ZEPLIN high-recoil candidate
AU - Antonio Capolupo
AU - Gabriele Pisacane
AU - Raoul Serao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.28218
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28218
AB - Motivated by the LUX-ZEPLIN high-energy nuclear-recoil candidate, we ask whether solar evolution can distinguish dark-matter models that are degenerate in their leading xenon recoil response. We compare a split fermionic electroweak doublet with a specified inert scalar doublet, matching their masses, excitation energy, coherent transition interaction, and leading elastic nuclear response. This matching fixes the same direct-detection signal and the same optically thin first-capture source in the Sun, while leaving post-capture dynamics model dependent. We follow finite-temperature capture, orbital evolution, scattering, excited-state decay, escape, thermal entry, and annihilation. The different excited-state lifetimes generate distinct capture histories, but, for the specified cooling interaction, both retained populations thermalize and reach capture--annihilation equilibrium, yielding only a modest difference in their late annihilation rates. We also derive an analytic protected-capture criterion and test the result against shared halo, solar-composition, and nuclear-response variations. Although the total annihilation rates remain similar, model-dependent gauge-boson branching fractions and polarizations produce distinct neutrino spectra at production. A source-level comparison with published IceCube templates shows that the nominal partial WW sources exceed the corresponding pure-WW template limits, without constituting a detector-level exclusion or model discrimination. Solar evolution therefore provides a complementary probe of particle-model differences hidden by a matched xenon signal.
ER -