Crystal Defects: A Portal To Dark Matter Detection
  We propose to use the defect creation energy loss in commonly used high
energy physics solid state detectors as a tool to statistically identify dark
matter signal from background. We simulate the energy loss in the process of
defect creation using density functional theory and molecular dynamics methods
and calculate the corresponding expected dark matter spectra. We show that in
phonon-mediated solid state detectors, the energy loss due to defect creation
convolved with the expected dark matter interaction signal results in a
significant change in the expected spectra for common detector materials. With
recent progress towards $\sim$10 eV threshold low-mass dark matter searches,
this variation in expected dark matter spectrum can be used as a direct
signature of dark matter interactions with atomic nuclei.
