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Comment on "Dark Matter with Pseudoscalar-Mediated Interactions Explains the DAMA Signal and the Galactic Center Excess"

Arina et al. have proposed the Dirac fermionic dark matter with pseudoscalar-mediated interactions to explain the Galactic Center excess, correct relic density and DAMA signal. They have assumed that contact interactions remain roughly valid in calculating scattering rates at the direct detection even when the mediator mass is the same order as the typical momentum transfer. We show that such a replacement is not suitable. Adopting the full form of interactions, we show that the gamma-ray excess allowed parameters are completely outside of the DAMA iodine 3$σ$ region, even for heavy-flavor-universal couplings, for which $m_{DM} \sim 40$ GeV in the gamma-ray excess fit. As for Higgs-like couplings, the two regions overlap for $m_a\lesssim$ 15 MeV, where long-range interactions, instead of contact interactions, occur at the DAMA.