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  • Open Access

New limits on light dark matter-nucleon scattering

Peter Cox*, Matthew J. Dolan†, and Joshua Wood‡

  • *Contact author: peter.cox@unimelb.edu.au
  • †Contact author: matthew.dolan@unimelb.edu.au
  • ‡Contact author: jwood5@student.unimelb.edu.au
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 115021 – Published 10 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ww13-v14j

Abstract

We derive new bounds on hadronically interacting, sub-GeV mass dark matter. First, we show that one-loop interactions with photons can be sufficient to maintain equilibrium between the dark matter and Standard Model sectors at MeV temperatures, resulting in constraints from big bang nucleosynthesis. Using chiral perturbation theory, we find that this leads to an upper bound on the dark-matter–nucleon scattering cross section that is orders of magnitude stronger than existing astrophysical constraints. Furthermore, we show that even if these interactions remain out of equilibrium, there is an irreducible freeze-in abundance of dark matter that can easily overclose the universe. We also compute new bounds from rare kaon decays that can provide even stronger constraints. Our results have significant implications for future direct detection experiments aiming to search for MeV-scale dark matter.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 115021– Published 10 December, 2025
  • Received 21 October 2024
  • Accepted 24 October 2025
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