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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269320301040#br0210
I need to give this more thought, but the ballistics section is pretty good, and I think their basic dE/dx argument is sound: If a collision at a ballistic rate transfers about the same kinetic energy to the human body as a bullet, the injury would likely be comparable.
Abstract
Macroscopic dark matter (macros) refers to a class of dark matter candidates that scatter elastically off of ordinary matter with a large geometric cross-section. A wide range of macro masses MX and cross-sections σX remain unprobed. We show that over a wide region within the unexplored parameter space, collisions of a macro with a human body would result in serious injury or death. We use the absence of such unexplained impacts with a well-monitored subset of the human population to exclude a region bounded by σX>10−8−10−7 cm2 and MX<50 kg. Our results open a new window on dark matter: the human body as a dark matter detector.
I need to give this more thought, but the ballistics section is pretty good, and I think their basic dE/dx argument is sound: If a collision at a ballistic rate transfers about the same kinetic energy to the human body as a bullet, the injury would likely be comparable.
Abstract
Macroscopic dark matter (macros) refers to a class of dark matter candidates that scatter elastically off of ordinary matter with a large geometric cross-section. A wide range of macro masses MX and cross-sections σX remain unprobed. We show that over a wide region within the unexplored parameter space, collisions of a macro with a human body would result in serious injury or death. We use the absence of such unexplained impacts with a well-monitored subset of the human population to exclude a region bounded by σX>10−8−10−7 cm2 and MX<50 kg. Our results open a new window on dark matter: the human body as a dark matter detector.
