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We investigate the possibility for the direct detection of low mass (GeVscale) WIMP dark matter in scintillation experiments. Such WIMPs are typicallytoo light to leave appreciable nuclear recoils, but may be detected via theirscattering off atomic electrons. In particular, the DAMA Collaboration [R.Bernabei et al., Nucl. Phys. At. Energy 19, 307 (2018)] has recently presentedstrong evidence of an annual modulation in the scintillation rate observed atenergies as low as 1 keV. Despite a strong enhancement in the calculated eventrate at low energies, we find that an interpretation in terms ofelectron-interacting WIMPs cannot be consistent with existing constraints. Wealso demonstrate the importance of correct treatment of the atomicwavefunctions, and show the resulting event rate is very sensitive to thelow-energy performance of the detectors, meaning it is crucial that thedetector uncertainties be taken into account. Finally, we demonstrate that thepotential scintillation event rate can be much larger than may otherwise beexpected, meaning that competitive searches can be performed for GeV scaleWIMPs using the conventional prompt S1 scintillation signals. This is importantgiven the recent and upcoming very large liquid xenon detectors.

Electron-interacting dark matter: Implications from DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 and prospects for liquid xenon detectors and NaI detectors