Sub-GeV dark matter from cosmic ray bremsstrahlung in the atmosphere

Abstract

We explore the sensitivity of neutrino observatories and direct dark matter detection experiments to boosted sub-GeV dark matter produced by inelastic cosmic ray collisions in the atmosphere. We revisit earlier approaches and extend the sensitivity to higher mass by modeling the proton bremsstrahlung production mode via initial state radiation. For vector-mediated dark matter models, the peak of the cosmic ray flux allows for enhanced DM production for mediator masses near the $\rho/\omega$ resonances. We determine and compare the ensuing sensitivity of direct detection experiments LZ and PandaX-4T and the neutrino detectors Borexino and Super-K.