Macroscopic dark matter refers to a variety of dark matter candidates that
would be expected to (elastically) scatter off of ordinary matter with a large
geometric cross-section. A wide range of macro masses $M_X$ and cross-sections
$\sigma_X$ remain unprobed. We show that over a wide region within the
unexplored parameter space, collisions of a macro with a human body would
result in serious injury or death. We use the absence of such unexplained
impacts with a well-monitored subset of the human population to exclude a
region bounded by $\sigma_X 10^-8 - 10^-7$ cm$^2$ and $M_X < 50$ kg.
Our results open a new window on dark matter: the human body as a dark matter
detector.
%0 Generic
%1 sidhu2019death
%A Sidhu, Jagjit Singh
%A Scherrer, Robert J
%A Starkman, Glenn
%D 2019
%K tifr
%T Death by Dark Matter
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1907.06674
%X Macroscopic dark matter refers to a variety of dark matter candidates that
would be expected to (elastically) scatter off of ordinary matter with a large
geometric cross-section. A wide range of macro masses $M_X$ and cross-sections
$\sigma_X$ remain unprobed. We show that over a wide region within the
unexplored parameter space, collisions of a macro with a human body would
result in serious injury or death. We use the absence of such unexplained
impacts with a well-monitored subset of the human population to exclude a
region bounded by $\sigma_X 10^-8 - 10^-7$ cm$^2$ and $M_X < 50$ kg.
Our results open a new window on dark matter: the human body as a dark matter
detector.
@misc{sidhu2019death,
abstract = {Macroscopic dark matter refers to a variety of dark matter candidates that
would be expected to (elastically) scatter off of ordinary matter with a large
geometric cross-section. A wide range of macro masses $M_X$ and cross-sections
$\sigma_X$ remain unprobed. We show that over a wide region within the
unexplored parameter space, collisions of a macro with a human body would
result in serious injury or death. We use the absence of such unexplained
impacts with a well-monitored subset of the human population to exclude a
region bounded by $\sigma_X \geq 10^{-8} - 10^{-7}$ cm$^2$ and $M_X < 50$ kg.
Our results open a new window on dark matter: the human body as a dark matter
detector.},
added-at = {2019-07-17T06:44:27.000+0200},
author = {Sidhu, Jagjit Singh and Scherrer, Robert J and Starkman, Glenn},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2ac7d3e49ac7eef6aed5f4a5f49ecfa93/citekhatri},
description = {Death by Dark Matter},
interhash = {a4b2c1389150ef66f2d9f65e6a268e0d},
intrahash = {ac7d3e49ac7eef6aed5f4a5f49ecfa93},
keywords = {tifr},
note = {cite arxiv:1907.06674Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure},
timestamp = {2019-07-17T06:44:27.000+0200},
title = {Death by Dark Matter},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1907.06674},
year = 2019
}