Assessing the discovery potential of directional detection of Dark
  Matter
  There is a worldwide effort toward the development of a large TPC (Time
Projection Chamber) devoted to directional Dark Matter detection. All current
projects are being designed to fulfill a unique goal : identifying weakly
interacting massive particle (WIMP) as such by taking advantage of the expected
direction dependence of WIMP-induced events toward the constellation Cygnus.
However such proof of discovery requires a careful statistical data treatment.
In this paper, the discovery potential of forthcoming directional detectors is
adressed by using a frequentist approach based on the profile likelihood ratio
test statistic. This allows us to estimate the expected significance of a Dark
Matter detection. Moreover, using this powerful test statistic, it is possible
to propagate astrophysical and experimental uncertainties in the determination
of the discovery potential of a given directional detection experiment. This
way, we found that a 30 kg.year CF$_4$ directional experiment could reach a
3$\sigma$ sensitivity at 90% C.L. down to $10^{-5}$ pb and $3.10^{-4}$ pb for
the WIMP-proton axial cross section in the most optimistic and pessimistic
scenario respectively.
