Getting the astrophysics and particle physics of dark matter out of
  next-generation direct detection experiments
  The next decade will bring massive new data sets from experiments of the
direct detection of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. The
primary goal of these experiments is to identify and characterize the
dark-matter particle species. However, mapping the data sets to the
particle-physics properties of dark matter is complicated not only by the
considerable uncertainties in the dark-matter model, but by its poorly
constrained local distribution function (the "astrophysics" of dark matter). In
this Letter, I propose a shift in how to do direct-detection data analysis. I
show that by treating the astrophysical and particle physics uncertainties of
dark matter on equal footing, and by incorporating a combination of data sets
into the analysis, one may recover both the particle physics and astrophysics
of dark matter. Not only does such an approach yield more accurate estimates of
dark-matter properties, but may illuminate how dark matter coevolves with
galaxies.
