Direct Detection is testing Freeze-in
  Dark Matter (DM) may belong to a hidden sector that is only feebly
interacting with the Standard Model (SM) and may have never been in thermal
equilibrium in the Early Universe. In this case, the observed abundance of dark
matter particles could have built up through a process known as Freeze-in. We
show that, for the first time, direct detection experiments are testing this DM
production mechanism. This applies to scenarios where the SM and hidden sectors
communicate through a light mediator particle of mass less than a few MeV.
Through the exchange of such light mediator, the very same FIMP candidates can
have self-interactions that are in the range required to address the small
scale structure issues of collisionless cold dark matter.
