scholarly journals New Projections for Dark Matter Searches with Paleo-Detectors

Instruments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Sebastian Baum ◽  
Thomas D. P.  Edwards ◽  
Katherine Freese ◽  
Patrick Stengel
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Recoil Energy ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Nuclear Recoils ◽  
Microscopy Techniques ◽  
Nuclear Damage

Paleo-detectors are a proposed experimental technique to search for dark matter (DM). In lieu of the conventional approach of operating a tonne-scale real-time detector to search for DM-induced nuclear recoils, paleo-detectors take advantage of small samples of naturally occurring rocks on Earth that have been deep underground (≳5 km), accumulating nuclear damage tracks from recoiling nuclei for O(1)Gyr. Modern microscopy techniques promise the capability to read out nuclear damage tracks with nanometer resolution in macroscopic samples. Thanks to their O(1)Gyr integration times, paleo-detectors could constitute nuclear recoil detectors with keV recoil energy thresholds and 100 kilotonne-yr exposures. This combination would allow paleo-detectors to probe DM-nucleon cross sections orders of magnitude below existing upper limits from conventional direct detection experiments. In this article, we use improved background modeling and a new spectral analysis technique to update the sensitivity forecast for paleo-detectors. We demonstrate the robustness of the sensitivity forecast to the (lack of) ancillary measurements of the age of the samples and the parameters controlling the backgrounds, systematic mismodeling of the spectral shape of the backgrounds, and the radiopurity of the mineral samples. Specifically, we demonstrate that even if the uranium concentration in paleo-detector samples is 10−8 (per weight), many orders of magnitude larger than what we expect in the most radiopure samples obtained from ultra basic rock or marine evaporite deposits, paleo-detectors could still probe DM-nucleon cross sections below current limits. For DM masses ≲ 10 GeV/c2, the sensitivity of paleo-detectors could still reach down all the way to the conventional neutrino floor in a Xe-based direct detection experiment.

scholarly journals Recasting direct detection limits within micrOMEGAs and implication for non-standard dark matter scenarios

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bélanger ◽  
A. Mjallal ◽  
A. Pukhov
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Elastic Scattering ◽  
Velocity Distribution ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Cosmological Parameters ◽  
Form Factors ◽  
Scattering Cross ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Scattering Cross Sections

AbstractDirect detection experiments obtain 90% upper limits on the elastic scattering cross sections of dark matter with nucleons assuming point-like interactions and standard astrophysical and cosmological parameters. In this paper we provide a recasting of the limits from XENON1T, PICO-60, CRESST-III and DarkSide-50 and include them in micrOMEGAs. The code can then be used to directly impose constraints from these experiments on generic dark matter models under different assumptions about the DM velocity distribution or on the nucleus form factors. Moreover, new limits on the elastic scattering cross sections can be obtained in the presence of a light t-channel mediator or of millicharged particles.

scholarly journals Relativistic impulse approximation in the atomic ionization process induced by millicharged particles

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Kai Qiao ◽  
Shin-Ted Lin ◽  
Hsin-Chang Chi ◽  
Hai-Tao Jia
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Impulse Approximation ◽  
Dark Matter Particle ◽  
Ionization Process ◽  
Beyond The Standard Model ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Many Body ◽  
Atomic Ionization

Abstract The millicharged particle has become an attractive topic to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. In direct detection experiments, the parameter space of millicharged particles can be constrained from the atomic ionization process. In this work, we develop the relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) approach, which can duel with atomic many-body effects effectively, in the atomic ionization process induced by millicharged particles. The formulation of RIA in the atomic ionization induced by millicharged particles is derived, and the numerical calculations are obtained and compared with those from free electron approximation and equivalent photon approximation. Concretely, the atomic ionizations induced by mllicharged dark matter particles and millicharged neutrinos in high-purity germanium (HPGe) and liquid xenon (LXe) detectors are carefully studied in this work. The differential cross sections, reaction event rates in HPGe and LXe detectors, and detecting sensitivities on dark matter particle and neutrino millicharge in next-generation HPGe and LXe based experiments are estimated and calculated to give a comprehensive study. Our results suggested that the next-generation experiments would improve 2-3 orders of magnitude on dark matter particle millicharge δχ than the current best experimental bounds in direct detection experiments. Furthermore, the next-generation experiments would also improve 2-3 times on neutrino millicharge δν than the current experimental bounds.

scholarly journals A Review of Basic Energy Reconstruction Techniques in Liquid Xenon and Argon Detectors for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics Using NEST

Instruments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Matthew Szydagis ◽  
Grant A. Block ◽  
Collin Farquhar ◽  
Alexander J. Flesher ◽  
Ekaterina S. Kozlova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Neutrino Physics ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Profile Likelihood ◽  
Liquid Argon ◽  
Energy Scale ◽  
Liquid Xenon ◽  
Nuclear Recoils ◽  
Available Information

Detectors based upon the noble elements, especially liquid xenon as well as liquid argon, as both single- and dual-phase types, require reconstruction of the energies of interacting particles, both in the field of direct detection of dark matter (weakly interacting massive particles WIMPs, axions, etc.) and in neutrino physics. Experimentalists, as well as theorists who reanalyze/reinterpret experimental data, have used a few different techniques over the past few decades. In this paper, we review techniques based on solely the primary scintillation channel, the ionization or secondary channel available at non-zero drift electric fields, and combined techniques that include a simple linear combination and weighted averages, with a brief discussion of the application of profile likelihood, maximum likelihood, and machine learning. Comparing results for electron recoils (beta and gamma interactions) and nuclear recoils (primarily from neutrons) from the Noble Element Simulation Technique (NEST) simulation to available data, we confirm that combining all available information generates higher-precision means, lower widths (energy resolution), and more symmetric shapes (approximately Gaussian) especially at keV-scale energies, with the symmetry even greater when thresholding is addressed. Near thresholds, bias from upward fluctuations matters. For MeV-GeV scales, if only one channel is utilized, an ionization-only-based energy scale outperforms scintillation; channel combination remains beneficial. We discuss here what major collaborations use.

scholarly journals DARK MATTER DETECTION IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (19) ◽  
pp. 3093-3169 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARLOS MUÑOZ
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Nuclear Recoils ◽  
M Theory ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Matter Detection

The existence of dark matter was suggested, using simple gravitational arguments, seventy years ago. Although we are now convinced that most of the mass in the Universe is indeed some nonluminous matter, we still do not know its composition. The problem of the dark matter in the Universe is reviewed here. Particle candidates for dark matter are discussed with particular emphasis on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP's). Experiments searching for these relic particles, carried out by many groups around the world, are also reviewed, paying special attention to their direct detection by observing the elastic scattering on target nuclei through nuclear recoils. Finally, we concentrate on the theoretical models predicting WIMP's, and in particular on supersymmetric extensions of the standard model, where the leading candidate for WIMP, the neutralino, is present. There, we compute the cross-section for the direct detection of neutralinos, and compare it with the sensitivity of detectors. We mainly discuss supergravity, superstring and M theory scenarios.

scholarly journals SUSY INTO DARKNESS: HEAVY SCALARS IN THE CMSSM

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (15) ◽  
pp. 1350061 ◽  
Author(s):  
VAN E. MAYES
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Parameter Space ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Higgs Mass ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Percent Level ◽  
Relic Density ◽  
The One ◽  
Near Future

A survey of the mSUGRA/CMSSM parameter space is presented. The viable regions of the parameter space which satisfy standard experimental constraints are identified and discussed. These constraints include a 124–127 GeV mass for the lightest CP-even Higgs and the correct relic density for cold dark matter. The superpartner spectra corresponding to these regions fall within the well-known hyperbolic branch and are found to possess sub-TeV neutralinos and charginos, with mixed Bino/Higgsino LSP's with 200–800 GeV masses. In addition, the models possess ~3–4 TeV gluino masses and heavy squarks and sleptons with masses [Formula: see text]. Spectra with a Higgs mass mh≅125 GeV and a relic density 0.105 ≤ Ωχ0h2≤ 0.123 are found to require EWFT at around the one-percent level, while those spectra with a much lower relic density require EWFT of only a few percent. Moreover, the spin-independent neutralino–proton direct detection cross-sections are found to be below or within the XENON100 2σ limit and should be experimentally accessible now or in the near future. Finally, it is pointed out that the supersymmetry breaking soft terms corresponding to these regions of the mSUGRA/CMSSM parameter space (m0∝ m1/2with [Formula: see text] and A0= -m1/2) may be obtained from general flux-induced soft terms in Type IIB flux compactifications with D3 branes.

scholarly journals EXTRACTING DARK MATTER PROPERTIES MODEL-INDEPENDENTLY FROM DIRECT DETECTION EXPERIMENTS

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (11n12) ◽  
pp. 951-961 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHUNG-LIN SHAN
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Velocity Distribution Function ◽  
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles ◽  
Model Independent ◽  
Review Model ◽  
Detector Materials ◽  
Matter Detection ◽  
Direct Dark Matter

In this article I review model-independent procedures for extracting properties of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) from direct Dark Matter detection experiments. Neither prior knowledge about the velocity distribution function of halo Dark Matter particles nor about their mass or cross sections on target nucleus is needed. The unique required information is measured recoil energies from experiments with different detector materials.

scholarly journals A complete effective field theory for dark matter

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Criado ◽  
Abdelhak Djouadi ◽  
Manuel Pérez-Victoria ◽  
José Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Effective Field Theory ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Mass Splitting ◽  
Effective Field ◽  
Set Constraints ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Analytical Expressions

Abstract We present an effective field theory describing the relevant interactions of the Standard Model with an electrically neutral particle that can account for the dark matter in the Universe. The possible mediators of these interactions are assumed to be heavy. The dark matter candidates that we consider have spin 0, 1/2 or 1, belong to an electroweak multiplet with arbitrary isospin and hypercharge and their stability at cosmological scales is guaranteed by imposing a ℤ2 symmetry. We present the most general framework for describing the interaction of the dark matter with standard particles, and construct a general non-redundant basis of the gauge-invariant operators up to dimension six. The basis includes multiplets with non-vanishing hypercharge, which can also be viable DM candidates. We give two examples illustrating the phenomenological use of such a general effective framework. First, we consider the case of a scalar singlet, provide convenient semi-analytical expressions for the relevant dark matter observables, use present experimental data to set constraints on the Wilson coefficients of the operators, and show how the interplay of different operators can open new allowed windows in the parameter space of the model. Then we study the case of a lepton isodoublet, which involves coannihilation processes, and we discuss the impact of the operators on the particle mass splitting and direct detection cross sections. These examples highlight the importance of the contribution of the various non-renormalizable operators, which can even dominate over the gauge interactions in certain cases.

scholarly journals Dark matter electromagnetic dipoles: the WIMP expectation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hambye ◽  
Xun-Jie Xu
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Dipole Moments ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Photon Exchange ◽  
Nucleus Scattering ◽  
The One ◽  
Scattering Cross Sections ◽  
Near Future

Abstract We perform a systematic study of the electric and magnetic dipole moments of dark matter (DM) that are induced at the one-loop level when DM experiences four-fermion interactions with Standard Model (SM) charged fermions. Related to their loop nature these moments can largely depend on the UV completion at the origin of the four-fermion operators. We illustrate this property by considering explicitly two simple ways to generate these operators, from t- or s-channel tree-level exchange. Fixing the strength of these interactions from the DM relic density constraint, we obtain in particular a magnetic moment that, depending on the interaction considered, lies typically between 10−20 to 10−23 ecm or identically vanishes. These non-vanishing values induce, via photon exchange, DM-nucleus scattering cross sections that could be probed by current or near future direct detection experiments.

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