Dark matter substructure under the electron scattering lamppost

Abstract

We study the mutual relationship between dark matter-electron scattering experiments and possible new dark matter substructure nearby hinted by the Gaia data. We show how kinematic substructure could affect the average and modulation spectra of dark matter-electron scattering in semiconductors and the discovery reaches of future experiments with these targets. Conversely, we demonstrate how future data could probe and constrain the fraction of dark matter in substructure, even when it constitutes a subdominant component of the local dark matter density.