Dark matter signals at neutrino telescopes in effective theories

Abstract

We constrain the effective theory of one-body dark matter-nucleon interactions using neutrino telescope observations. We derive exclusion limits on the 28 coupling constants of the theory, exploring interaction operators previously considered in dark matter direct detection only, and using new nuclear response functions recently derived through nuclear structure calculations. We determine for what interactions neutrino telescopes are superior to current direct detection experiments, and show that Hydrogen is not the most important element in the exclusion limit calculation for the majority of the spin-dependent operators.