WIMPs below the radar: blind spots and benchmarks beyond the neutrino floor

We investigate benchmark scenarios for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that naturally evade current direct detection constraints by featuring suppressed spin-independent cross-sections. Focusing on three representative models — the Singlet-Doublet fermion model, its extension to a Two-Higgs-Doublet plus pseudoscalar sector (2HDM+a), and a dark SU(3) gauge model, we systematically analyze the interplay between thermal freeze-out, direct detection blind spots, and radiative corrections. In each case, we identify viable regions of parameter space where the predicted dark matter relic abundance is consistent with observations while elastic scattering rates lie below current exclusion limits and, in some cases, but now always, below the neutrino floor. Loop-induced effects are shown to play a critical role, particularly in scenarios with suppressed tree-level interactions. Our findings demonstrate that models with rich electroweak and scalar sectors can populate the experimentally challenging, yet phenomenologically motivated parameter space between existing constraints and the ultimate sensitivity of current-technology direct detection experiments.