Maximizing Detection Rates with HYPER Dark Matter
Robert McGehee (Michigan U.)

In this talk, we estimate the maximum reasonable direct detection rate for sub-GeV dark matter scattering off nucleons and compare it to a plethora of experimental proposals' projected sensitivities. We then introduce a new class of HighlY interactive ParticlE Relics (HYPERs) which can actually have a nucleon scattering cross section as large as this maximum value. This is made possible by a late-time phase transition in the dark sector which decreases the mass of the mediator. HYPERs present a novel dark matter benchmark in an otherwise sparsely populated, but vigorously probed, parameter space.