Neutrino coherent scattering rates at direct dark matter detectors

Neutrino-induced recoil events may constitute a background to direct dark matter searches, particularly for those detectors that strive to reach the ton-scale and beyond. This paper discusses the expected neutrino-induced background spectrum due to several of the most important sources, including solar, atmospheric, and diffuse supernova neutrinos. The largest rate arises from ⁸B produced solar neutrinos, providing upwards of ~ 10³ events per ton-year over all recoil energies for the heaviest nuclear targets. However the majority of these ⁸B events are expected to be below the recoil threshold of modern detectors. The remaining neutrino sources are found to constitute a background to the WIMP-induced recoil rate only if the WIMP-nucleon cross section is less than 10⁻¹² pb. Finally the sensitivity to diffuse supernova neutrino flux for non-electron neutrino flavors is discussed, and projected flux limits are compared with existing flux limits.