An exciting prospect: Detecting inelastic transitions of xenon caused by dark matter

Dark matter can scatter and excite the xenon isotopes ¹²⁹Xe and ¹³¹Xe to a low-lying excitation in a direct detection experiment. This signature is distinct from the canonical elastic scattering signal because the inelastic signal also contains the energy deposited from the subsequent prompt de-excitation of the nucleus. A measurement of the elastic and inelastic signal will allow a single experiment to distinguish between a spin-independent and spin-dependent interaction. In this paper, I will discuss the prospects of detecting this inelastic signal with up-coming tonne-scale two-phase xenon direct detection experiments.