New signatures for dark-matter detectors

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Abstract
A new direct signal results, because of capture by Earth, if weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP’s) compose the galactic-halo dark matter. The scattering signal from trapped particles can exceed that of halo WIMP’s by up to four orders of magnitude, depending on Earth’s interior temperature, if energy thresholds in the 10–30-eV range can be attained. However, the indirect signal due to annihilations of trapped particles is suppressed compared to previous estimates. Finally we drastically revise estimates of the direct halo signal due to WIMP’s with spin-dependent cross sections, based on recent European Muon Collaboration deep-inelastic scattering data.