ABSTRACT:
Recent developments have suggested that the dark sector may be much more complex than previously imagined. As a result, models such as Dynamical Dark Matter --- in which there are multiple semi-stable dark matter components which contribute non-trivially to Omega_CDM --- merit further study. One interesting potential signal which arises in such contexts stems from the possibility of the inelastic scattering of heavier states into lighter states at direct-detection experiments.
The operators which allow such behavior also permit heavier dark-matter states to decay to lighter dark-matter states plus visible matter. Thus, these models offer the intriguing possibility of actually correlating the bounds from direct detection (scattering) and indirect detection (decay). In this talk I will describe the results of a model-independent analysis of the constraints on decaying dark matter within the region of parameter space relevant for inelastic scattering. I will also discuss a certain class of contact interactions which until now have been widely neglected in direct detection literature.