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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Extending the dark matter reach of water Cherenkov detectors using Jupiter

Sandra Robles*

Stephan A. Meighen-Berger†

  • *Contact author: srobles@fnal.gov
  • †Contact author: stephan.meighenberger@unimelb.edu.au
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Phys. Rev. D 112, L041301 – Published 25 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4s1l-c63r

Abstract

We propose the first method for water Cherenkov detectors to constrain GeV-scale dark matter (DM) below the solar evaporation mass. While previous efforts have highlighted the Sun and Earth as DM capture targets, we demonstrate that Jupiter is a viable target. Jupiter’s unique characteristics, such as its lower core temperature and significant gravitational potential, allow it to capture and retain light DM more effectively than the Sun, particularly in the mass range below 4 GeV where direct detection sensitivity diminishes. Our calculations provide the first sensitivity estimates to GeV-scale annihilating DM within Jupiter, predicting Hyper-K can reach spin dependent cross sections as low as σpχSD=2×10−35  cm2 for DM masses below 2 GeV. This surpasses current solar limits and direct detection results. We additionally provide estimates for Super-K ORCA, and the IceCube-Upgrade, showing that these experiments could provide complimentary bounds to direct detection experiments.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, L041301– Published 25 August, 2025
  • Received 14 November 2024
  • Accepted 16 July 2025
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