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Sample records for selected wimp dark

  1. Planck-scale effects on WIMP dark matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sofiane M Boucenna

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available There exists a widely known conjecture that gravitational effects violate global symmetries. We study the effect of global-symmetry violating higher-dimension operators induced by Planck-scale physics on the properties of WIMP dark matter. Using an effective description, we show that the lifetime of the WIMP dark matter candidate can satisfy cosmological bounds under reasonable assumptions regarding the strength of the dimension-five operators. On the other hand, the indirect WIMP dark matter detection signal is significantly enhanced due to new decay channels.

  2. Dark Matter: Looking for WIMPs in the Galactic Halo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akerib, Daniel S.

    2006-01-01

    Overwhelming observational evidence indicates that most of the matter in the Universe consists of non-baryonic dark matter. One possibility is that the dark matter is Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that were produced in the early Universe. These relics could comprise the Milky Way's dark halo and provide evidence for new particle physics, such as Supersymmetry. After reviewing some of the evidence for dark matter and the WIMP hypothesis, I will describe the strategy for searching for WIMPs, along with a survey of the current status and outlook. In particular, dark matter searches have begun to explore the region of parameter space where SUSY particles could provide dark matter candidates. I will also mention some of the recent theoretical work on dark matter candidates which is being done in anticipation of the turn-on of the LHC and as part of the active R and D on the ILC. Finally, a vigorous detector development program promises significant advances in WIMP sensitivity in the coming years

  3. Working Group Report: WIMP Dark Matter Direct Detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cushman, P.; Galbiati, C.; McKinsey, D. N.; Robertson, H.; Tait, T. M.P.

    2013-10-30

    As part of the Snowmass process, the Cosmic Frontier WIMP Direct Detection subgroup (CF1) has drawn on input from the Cosmic Frontier and the broader Particle Physics community to produce this document. The charge to CF1 was (a) to summarize the current status and projected sensitivity of WIMP direct detection experiments worldwide, (b) motivate WIMP dark matter searches over a broad parameter space by examining a spectrum of WIMP models, (c) establish a community consensus on the type of experimental program required to explore that parameter space, and (d) identify the common infrastructure required to practically meet those goals.

  4. Working Group Report: WIMP Dark Matter Direct Detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cushman, P.; Galbiati, C.; McKinsey, D. N.; Robertson, H.; Tait, T. M.P.

    2013-01-01

    As part of the Snowmass process, the Cosmic Frontier WIMP Direct Detection subgroup (CF1) has drawn on input from the Cosmic Frontier and the broader Particle Physics community to produce this document. The charge to CF1 was (a) to summarize the current status and projected sensitivity of WIMP direct detection experiments worldwide, (b) motivate WIMP dark matter searches over a broad parameter space by examining a spectrum of WIMP models, (c) establish a community consensus on the type of experimental program required to explore that parameter space, and (d) identify the common infrastructure required to practically meet those goals.

  5. Simultaneous Generation of WIMP Miracle-like Densities of Baryons and Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, John

    2012-01-01

    The observed density of dark matter is of the magnitude expected for a thermal relic weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP). In addition, the observed baryon density is within an order of magnitude of the dark matter density. This suggests that the baryon density is physically related to a typical thermal relic WIMP dark matter density. We present a model which simultaneously generates thermal relic WIMP-like densities for both baryons and dark matter by modifying a large initial baryon asymmetry. Production of unstable scalars carrying baryon number at the LHC would be a clear signature of the model.

  6. Cosmological radio emission induced by WIMP Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fornengo, N.; Regis, M.; Lineros, R.; Taoso, M.

    2012-01-01

    We present a detailed analysis of the radio synchrotron emission induced by WIMP dark matter annihilations and decays in extragalactic halos. We compute intensity, angular correlation, and source counts and discuss the impact on the expected signals of dark matter clustering, as well as of other astrophysical uncertainties as magnetic fields and spatial diffusion. Bounds on dark matter microscopic properties are then derived, and, depending on the specific set of assumptions, they are competitive with constraints from other indirect dark matter searches. At GHz frequencies, dark matter sources can become a significant fraction of the total number of sources with brightness below the microJansky level. We show that, at this level of fluxes (which are within the reach of the next-generation radio surveys), properties of the faint edge of differential source counts, as well as angular correlation data, can become an important probe for WIMPs

  7. Cosmological radio emission induced by WIMP Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fornengo, N.; Regis, M. [Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica, Università di Torino, via P. Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino (Italy); Lineros, R.; Taoso, M., E-mail: fornengo@to.infn.it, E-mail: rlineros@ific.uv.es, E-mail: regis@to.infn.it, E-mail: mtaoso@phas.ubc.ca [IFIC, CSIC-Universidad de Valencia, Ed. Institutos, Apdo. Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain)

    2012-03-01

    We present a detailed analysis of the radio synchrotron emission induced by WIMP dark matter annihilations and decays in extragalactic halos. We compute intensity, angular correlation, and source counts and discuss the impact on the expected signals of dark matter clustering, as well as of other astrophysical uncertainties as magnetic fields and spatial diffusion. Bounds on dark matter microscopic properties are then derived, and, depending on the specific set of assumptions, they are competitive with constraints from other indirect dark matter searches. At GHz frequencies, dark matter sources can become a significant fraction of the total number of sources with brightness below the microJansky level. We show that, at this level of fluxes (which are within the reach of the next-generation radio surveys), properties of the faint edge of differential source counts, as well as angular correlation data, can become an important probe for WIMPs.

  8. Simultaneous generation of WIMP miracle-like densities of baryons and dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, John

    2011-01-01

    The observed density of dark matter is of the magnitude expected for a thermal relic weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP). In addition, the observed baryon density is within an order of magnitude of the dark matter density. This suggests that the baryon density is physically related to a typical thermal relic WIMP dark matter density. We present a model which simultaneously generates thermal relic WIMP-like densities for both baryons and dark matter by modifying a large initial baryon asymmetry. Dark matter is due to O(100) GeV gauge singlet scalars produced in the annihilation of the O(TeV) colored scalars which are responsible for the final thermal WIMP-like baryon asymmetry. The requirement of no baryon washout implies that there are two gauge singlet scalars. The low-temperature transfer of the asymmetry to conventional baryons can be understood if the long-lived O(TeV) colored scalars have large hypercharge, |Y|>4/3. Production of such scalars at the LHC would be a clear signature of the model.

  9. Impacts of WIMP dark matter upon stellar evolution: main-sequence stars

    CERN Document Server

    Scott, Pat; Edsjo, Joakim

    2008-01-01

    The presence of large amounts of WIMP dark matter in stellar cores has been shown to have significant effects upon models of stellar evolution. We present a series of detailed grids of WIMP-influenced stellar models for main sequence stars, computed using the DarkStars code. We describe the changes in stellar structure and main sequence evolution which occur for masses ranging from 0.3 to 2.0 solar masses and metallicities from Z = 0.0003-0.02, as a function of the rate of energy injection by WIMPs. We then go on to show what rates of energy injection can be obtained using realistic orbital parameters for stars near supermassive black holes, including detailed considerations of dark matter halo velocity and density profiles. Capture and annihilation rates are strongly boosted when stars follow elliptical rather than circular orbits, causing WIMP annihilation to provide up to 100 times the energy of hydrogen fusion in stars at the Galactic centre.

  10. Joint Rome Workshop "Challenges in the Dark Sector: Alternatives to the WIMP paradigm”

    CERN Document Server

    2015-01-01

    Identifying what Dark Matter (DM) is, as well as its nature and properties, remains a major challenge for both theoretical and experimental astroparticle physics communities. In the past decades, WIMP DM has been the most hunted candidate, with the result that nowadays WIMPS are cornered by large amounts of experimental data from Direct Detection, Indirect Detection, and Collider Experiments. If no WIMP signal is detected in the next few years, the possibility that this very appealing theoretical idea is not what Nature has chosen will become even more compelling and will boost theoretical studies and experimental searches for non-WIMP alternatives for DM. The aim of this 3-day meeting is to convene experts on alternatives to the WIMP paradigm to stimulate informal discussions on different possibilities (dark photons, axion-like particles, Majorons, self-interacting dark sectors, just to mention a few). We plan to have only three or four talks each day, and plenty of time to discuss implications of these DM s...

  11. Beyond WIMP: From Theory to Detection of Sub-GeV Dark Matter

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2014-01-01

    The existence of dark matter has been well established with overwhelming evidence, but its particle identity is still unknown. For more than three decades, significant theoretical and experimental efforts have been directed towards the search for a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), often overlooking other possibilities. The lack of an unambiguous positive WIMP signal, at both indirect- and direct-detection experiments and at the LHC, stresses the need to expand dark matter research into additional theoretical scenarios and, more importantly, to develop new experimental capabilities that go beyond the limitations of WIMP detection. In this talk I will discuss new theoretical ideas and experimental avenues for searching for light, sub-GeV dark matter. Some emphasis will be given to direct detection experiments, where several new strategies to directly detect dark matter particles with MeV to GeV mass, far below standard direct detection capabilities, are developed.

  12. Projected WIMP Sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akerib, D.S.; et al.

    2018-02-16

    LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a next generation dark matter direct detection experiment that will operate 4850 feet underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. Using a two-phase xenon detector with an active mass of 7 tonnes, LZ will search primarily for low-energy interactions with Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which are hypothesized to make up the dark matter in our galactic halo. In this paper, the projected WIMP sensitivity of LZ is presented based on the latest background estimates and simulations of the detector. For a 1000 live day run using a 5.6 tonne fiducial mass, LZ is projected to exclude at 90% confidence level spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections above $1.6 \\times 10^{-48}$ cm$^{2}$ for a 40 $\\mathrm{GeV}/c^{2}$ mass WIMP. Additionally, a $5\\sigma$ discovery potential is projected reaching cross sections below the existing and projected exclusion limits of similar experiments that are currently operating. For spin-dependent WIMP-neutron(-proton) scattering, a sensitivity of $2.7 \\times 10^{-43}$ cm$^{2}$ ($8.1 \\times 10^{-42}$ cm$^{2}$) for a 40 $\\mathrm{GeV}/c^{2}$ mass WIMP is expected. With construction well underway, LZ is on track for underground installation at SURF in 2019 and will start collecting data in 2020.

  13. An intermediate framework between WIMP, FIMP, and EWIP dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yaguna, Carlos E.

    2012-01-01

    WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle), FIMP (Feebly interacting Massive Particle) and EWIP (Extremely Weakly Interacting Particle) dark matter are different theoretical frameworks that have been postulated to explain the dark matter. In this paper we examine an intermediate scenario that combines features from these three frameworks. It consists of a weakly interacting particle — à la WIMP — that does not reach thermal equilibrium in the early Universe — à la FIMP — and whose relic density is determined by the reheating temperature of the Universe — à la EWIP. As an example, an explicit realization of this framework, based on the singlet scalar model of dark matter, is analyzed in detail. In particular, the relic density is studied as a function of the parameters of the model, and the new viable region within this intermediate scenario is determined. Finally, it is shown that this alternative framework of dark matter allows for arbitrarily heavy dark matter particles and that it suggests a connection between dark matter and inflation

  14. WIMP dark matter candidates and searches—current status and future prospects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roszkowski, Leszek; Sessolo, Enrico Maria; Trojanowski, Sebastian

    2018-06-01

    We review several current aspects of dark matter theory and experiment. We overview the present experimental status, which includes current bounds and recent claims and hints of a possible signal in a wide range of experiments: direct detection in underground laboratories, gamma-ray, cosmic ray, x-ray, neutrino telescopes, and the LHC. We briefly review several possible particle candidates for a weakly interactive massive particle (WIMP) and dark matter that have recently been considered in the literature. We pay particular attention to the lightest neutralino of supersymmetry as it remains the best motivated candidate for dark matter and also shows excellent detection prospects. Finally we briefly review some alternative scenarios that can considerably alter properties and prospects for the detection of dark matter obtained within the standard thermal WIMP paradigm.

  15. WIMP dark matter candidates and searches-current status and future prospects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roszkowski, Leszek; Sessolo, Enrico Maria; Trojanowski, Sebastian

    2018-06-01

    We review several current aspects of dark matter theory and experiment. We overview the present experimental status, which includes current bounds and recent claims and hints of a possible signal in a wide range of experiments: direct detection in underground laboratories, gamma-ray, cosmic ray, x-ray, neutrino telescopes, and the LHC. We briefly review several possible particle candidates for a weakly interactive massive particle (WIMP) and dark matter that have recently been considered in the literature. We pay particular attention to the lightest neutralino of supersymmetry as it remains the best motivated candidate for dark matter and also shows excellent detection prospects. Finally we briefly review some alternative scenarios that can considerably alter properties and prospects for the detection of dark matter obtained within the standard thermal WIMP paradigm.

  16. A Search for WIMP Dark Matter Using the First Five-Tower Run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Filippini, Jeffrey Peter [UC, Berkeley

    2008-01-01

    In recent decades astronomers and physicists have accumulated a vast array of evidence that the bulk of the universe's matter is in some non-baryonic form that remains undetected by electromagnetic means. This \\dark matter" resides in diuse halos surrounding galaxies and other cosmic structures. Particle theorists have proposed a wide array of candidates for its nature. One particularly promising class of candidates are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs): quanta with masses of order 100 GeV/c2 and interactions characteristic of the weak nuclear force. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment seeks to directly detect the rare elastic interactions of galactic WIMPs with terrestrial nuclei. To this end, CDMS operates an array of crystalline Ge and Si particle detectors in Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. These crystals are operated at millikelvin temperatures and instrumented to measure the ionization and athermal phonons generated by each particle interaction. This combination provides a powerful two-fold discrimination against the interactions of particles generated by radioactive decay and cosmogenic showers. This dissertation describes the commissioning, analysis, and results of the rst WIMP-search data runs of the CDMS experiment with its full complement of 5 \\Towers" of detectors. These data represent a substantial increase in target mass and exposure over previous CDMS results. The results of this work place the most stringent limits yet set upon the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section for WIMP masses above 44 GeV/c2 , as well as setting competitive limits on spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon interactions. This work also outlines the larger context of this and other probes of the WIMP theory of dark matter, as well as some current development eorts toward a larger cryogenic experiment.

  17. Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCarthy, Kevin [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

    2013-06-01

    Astrophysical and cosmological measurements on the scales of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the universe indicate that 85% of the matter in the universe is composed of dark matter, made up of non-baryonic particles that interact with cross-sections on the weak scale or lower. Hypothetical Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, represent a potential solution to the dark matter problem, and naturally arise in certain Standard Model extensions. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) collaboration aims to detect the scattering of WIMP particles from nuclei in terrestrial detectors. Germanium and silicon particle detectors are deployed in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. These detectors are instrumented with phonon and ionization sensors, which allows for discrimination against electromagnetic backgrounds, which strike the detector at rates orders of magnitude higher than the expected WIMP signal. This dissertation presents the development of numerical models of the physics of the CDMS detectors, implemented in a computational package collectively known as the CDMS Detector Monte Carlo (DMC). After substantial validation of the models against data, the DMC is used to investigate potential backgrounds to the next iteration of the CDMS experiment, known as SuperCDMS. Finally, an investigation of using the DMC in a reverse Monte Carlo analysis of WIMP search data is presented.

  18. Constraints on low-mass WIMPs from the EDELWEISS-III dark matter search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Armengaud, E.; De Boissière, T. [CEA Saclay, DSM/IRFU, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, 91191 France (France); Arnaud, Q.; Augier, C.; Benoît, A.; Billard, J.; Cazes, A.; Charlieux, F. [Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon-UCBL, IN2P3-CNRS, 4 rue Enrico Fermi, Villeurbanne Cedex, 69622 France (France); Benoît, A.; Bres, G.; Camus, P. [Institut Néel, CNRS/UJF, 25 rue des Martyrs, BP 166, Grenoble, 38042 France (France); Bergé, L.; Broniatowski, A.; Chapellier, M.; Dumoulin, L. [CSNSM, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, 91405 France (France); Bergmann, T. [Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Institut für Prozessdatenverarbeitung und Elektronik, Postfach 3640, Karlsruhe, 76021 Germany (Germany); Blümer, J. [Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik, Gaedestr. 1, Karlsruhe, 76128 Germany (Germany); Brudanin, V.; Filosofov, D. [JINR, Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, Joliot-Curie 6, Dubna, Moscow Region, 141980 Russian Federation (Russian Federation); Eitel, K., E-mail: eric.armengaud@cea.fr [Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 3640, Karlsruhe, 76021 Germany (Germany); and others

    2016-05-01

    We present the results of a search for elastic scattering from galactic dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in the 4–30 GeV/ c {sup 2} mass range. We make use of a 582 kg-day fiducial exposure from an array of 800 g Germanium bolometers equipped with a set of interleaved electrodes with full surface coverage. We searched specifically for ∼ 2.5–20 keV nuclear recoils inside the detector fiducial volume. As an illustration the number of observed events in the search for 5 (resp. 20) GeV/ c {sup 2} WIMPs are 9 (resp. 4), compared to an expected background of 6.1 (resp. 1.4). A 90% CL limit of 4.3 × 10{sup −40} cm{sup 2} (resp. 9.4 × 10{sup −44} cm{sup 2}) is set on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-section for 5 (resp. 20) GeV/ c {sup 2} WIMPs. This result represents a 41-fold improvement with respect to the previous EDELWEISS-II low-mass WIMP search for 7 GeV/ c {sup 2} WIMPs. The derived constraint is in tension with hints of WIMP signals from some recent experiments, thus confirming results obtained with different detection techniques.

  19. Readout technologies for directional WIMP Dark Matter detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battat, J.B.R.; Irastorza, I.G.; Aleksandrov, A.; Asada, T.; Baracchini, E.; Billard, J.; Bosson, G.; Bourrion, O.; Bouvier, J.; Buonaura, A.; Burdge, K.; Cebrián, S.

    2016-01-01

    The measurement of the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a compelling but technologically challenging strategy to provide an unambiguous signature of the detection of Galactic dark matter. Most directional detectors aim to reconstruct the dark-matter-induced nuclear recoil tracks, either in gas or solid targets. The main challenge with directional detection is the need for high spatial resolution over large volumes, which puts strong requirements on the readout technologies. In this paper we review the various detector readout technologies used by directional detectors. In particular, we summarize the challenges, advantages and drawbacks of each approach, and discuss future prospects for these technologies.

  20. Consequences of DM/antiDM Oscillations for Asymmetric WIMP Dark Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Cirelli, Marco; Servant, Geraldine; Zaharijas, Gabrijela

    2012-01-01

    Assuming the existence of a primordial asymmetry in the dark sector, a scenario usually dubbed Asymmetric Dark Matter (aDM), we study the effect of oscillations between dark matter and its antiparticle on the re-equilibration of the initial asymmetry before freeze-out, which enable efficient annihilations to recouple. We calculate the evolution of the DM relic abundance and show how oscillations re-open the parameter space of aDM models, in particular in the direction of allowing large (WIMP-scale) DM masses. A typical wimp with a mass at the EW scale (\\sim 100 GeV - 1 TeV) presenting a primordial asymmetry of the same order as the baryon asymmetry naturally gets the correct relic abundance if the DM-number-violating Delta(DM) = 2 mass term is in the \\sim meV range. The re-establishment of annihilations implies that constraints from the accumulation of aDM in astrophysical bodies are evaded. On the other hand, the ordinary bounds from BBN, CMB and indirect detection signals on annihilating DM have to be consi...

  1. Asymmetric WIMP Dark Matter in the presence of DM/anti-DM oscillations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaharijas, G.

    2014-01-01

    The general class of 'Asymmetric Dark Matter (DM)' scenarios assumes the existence of a primordial particle/anti-particle asymmetry in the dark matter sector related to the asymmetry in the baryonic one, as a way to achieve the observed similarity between the baryonic and dark matter energy densities today. Focusing on this framework we study the effect of oscillations between dark matter and its anti-particle on the re-equilibration of the initial asymmetry. We calculate the evolution of the dark matter relic abundance and show how oscillations re-open the parameter space of asymmetric dark matter models, in particular in the direction of allowing large (WIMP-scale) DM masses. We found in particular that a typical WIMP with a mass at the EW scale (about 1 TeV) having a primordial asymmetry of the same order as the baryon asymmetry, naturally gets the correct relic abundance if the δm mass term is in the ∼ meV range. This turns out to be a natural value for fermionic DM arising from the higher dimensional operator H 2 DM 2 /Λ where H is the Higgs field and Λ ∼ M Pl . Finally, we constrain the parameter space in this framework by applying up-to-date bounds from indirect detection signals on annihilating DM

  2. Beyond WIMPs: the Quark (Anti Nugget Dark Matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhitnitsky Ariel

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We review a testable dark matter (DM model outside of the standard WIMP paradigm. The model is unique in a sense that the observed ratio Ωdark ≃ Ωvisible for visible and dark matter densities finds its natural explanation as a result of their common QCD origin when both types of matter (DM and visible are formed during the QCD phase transition and both are proportional to single dimensional parameter of the system, Λqcd. We argue that the charge separation effect also inevitably occurs during the same QCD phase transition in the presence of the CP odd axion field a(x. It leads to preferential formation of one species of nuggets on the scales of the visible Universe where the axion field a(x is coherent. A natural outcome of this preferential evolution is that only one type of the visible baryons (not anti- baryons remain in the system after the nuggets complete their formation. Unlike conventional WIMP dark matter candidates, the nuggets and anti-nuggets are strongly interacting but macroscopically large objects. The rare events of annihilation of the anti-nuggets with visible matter lead to a number of observable effects. We argue that the relative intensities for a number of measured excesses of emission from the centre of galaxy (covering more than 11 orders of magnitude are determined by standard and well established physics. At the same time the absolute intensity of emission is determined by a single new fundamental parameter of the theory, the axion mass, 10−6eV ≲ ma ≲ 10−3eV. Finally, we comment on implications of these studies for the axion search experiments, including microwave cavity and the Orpheus experiments.

  3. Identifying WIMP dark matter from particle and astroparticle data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertone, Gianfranco; Bozorgnia, Nassim; Kim, Jong Soo; Liem, Sebastian; McCabe, Christopher; Otten, Sydney; Ruiz de Austri, Roberto

    2018-03-01

    One of the most promising strategies to identify the nature of dark matter consists in the search for new particles at accelerators and with so-called direct detection experiments. Working within the framework of simplified models, and making use of machine learning tools to speed up statistical inference, we address the question of what we can learn about dark matter from a detection at the LHC and a forthcoming direct detection experiment. We show that with a combination of accelerator and direct detection data, it is possible to identify newly discovered particles as dark matter, by reconstructing their relic density assuming they are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) thermally produced in the early Universe, and demonstrating that it is consistent with the measured dark matter abundance. An inconsistency between these two quantities would instead point either towards additional physics in the dark sector, or towards a non-standard cosmology, with a thermal history substantially different from that of the standard cosmological model.

  4. Exclusion limits on the WIMP nucleon elastic scattering cross-section from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Golwala, Sunil Ramanlal [UC, Berkeley

    2000-01-01

    Extensive evidence indicates that a large fraction of the matter in the universe is nonluminous, nonbaryonic, and “cold” — nonrelativistic at the time matter began to dominate the energy density of the universe. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are an excellent candidate for nonbaryonic, cold dark matter. Minimal supersymmetry provides a natural WIMP candidate in the form of the lightest superpartner, with a typical mass Mδ ~ 100 GeV c-2 . WIMPs are expected to have collapsed into a roughly isothermal, spherical halo within which the visible portion of our galaxy resides. They would scatter off nuclei via the weak interaction, potentially allowingtheir direct detection. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) employs Ge and Si detectors to search for WIMPs via their elastic-scatteringinteractions with nuclei while discriminatingagainst interactions of background particles. The former yield nuclear recoils while the latter produce electron recoils. The ionization yield (the ratio of ionization production to recoil energy in a semiconductor) of a particle interaction differs greatly for nuclear and electron recoils. CDMS detectors measure phonon and electron-hole-pair production to determine recoil energy and ionization yield for each event and thereby discriminate nuclear recoils from electron recoils. This dissertation reports new limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering cross section that exclude unexplored parameter space above 10 GeV c-2 WIMP mass and, at > 75% CL, the entire 3σ allowed region for the WIMP signal reported by the DAMA experiment. The experimental apparatus, detector performance, and data analysis are fully described.

  5. Model-independent determination of the WIMP mass from direct dark matter detection data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drees, Manuel; Shan, Chung-Lin

    2008-01-01

    Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are one of the leading candidates for dark matter. We develop a model-independent method for determining the mass m χ of the WIMP by using data (i.e. measured recoil energies) of direct detection experiments. Our method is independent of the as yet unknown WIMP density near the Earth, of the form of the WIMP velocity distribution, as well as of the WIMP–nucleus cross section. However, it requires positive signals from at least two detectors with different target nuclei. In a background-free environment, m χ ∼50 GeV could in principle be determined with an error of ∼35% with only 2 × 50 events; in practice, upper and lower limits on the recoil energy of signal events, imposed to reduce backgrounds, can increase the error. The method also loses precision if m χ significantly exceeds the mass of the heaviest target nucleus used

  6. Exclusion limits on the WIMP-nucleon cross section from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abrams, D.; Baudis, L.; Brink, P.L.; Cabrera, B.; Castle, J.P.; Chang, C.L.; Clarke, R.M.; Saab, T.; Akerib, D.S.; Bolozdynya, A.; Driscoll, D.; Kamat, S.; Perera, T.A.; Schnee, R.W.; Wang, G.; Armel-Funkhouser, M.S.; Golwala, S.R.; Hellmig, J.; Mandic, V.; Meunier, P.

    2002-01-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) employs low-temperature Ge and Si detectors to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) via their elastic-scattering interactions with nuclei while discriminating against interactions of background particles. For recoil energies above 10 keV, events due to background photons are rejected with >99.9% efficiency, and surface events are rejected with >95% efficiency. The estimate of the background due to neutrons is based primarily on the observation of multiple-scatter events that should all be neutrons. Data selection is determined primarily by examining calibration data and vetoed events. Resulting efficiencies should be accurate to ∼10%. Results of CDMS data from 1998 and 1999 with a relaxed fiducial-volume cut (resulting in 15.8 kg days exposure on Ge) are consistent with an earlier analysis with a more restrictive fiducial-volume cut. Twenty-three WIMP candidate events are observed, but these events are consistent with a background from neutrons in all ways tested. Resulting limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering cross section exclude unexplored parameter space for WIMPs with masses between 10-70 GeV/c 2 . These limits border, but do not exclude, parameter space allowed by supersymmetry models and accelerator constraints. Results are compatible with some regions reported as allowed at 3σ by the annual-modulation measurement of the DAMA Collaboration. However, under the assumptions of standard WIMP interactions and a standard halo, the results are incompatible with the DAMA most likely value at >99.9% confidence level (C.L.), and are incompatible with the model-independent annual-modulation signal of DAMA at 99.99% C.L. in the asymptotic limit

  7. Direct detection of WIMPs: implications of a self-consistent truncated isothermal model of the Milky Way's dark matter halo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhury, Soumini; Bhattacharjee, Pijushpani; Cowsik, Ramanath

    2010-09-01

    Direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) candidates of Dark Matter (DM) is studied within the context of a self-consistent truncated isothermal model of the finite-size dark halo of the Galaxy. The halo model, based on the ``King model'' of the phase space distribution function of collisionless DM particles, takes into account the modifications of the phase-space structure of the halo due to the gravitational influence of the observed visible matter in a self-consistent manner. The parameters of the halo model are determined by a fit to a recently determined circular rotation curve of the Galaxy that extends up to ~ 60 kpc. Unlike in the Standard Halo Model (SHM) customarily used in the analysis of the results of WIMP direct detection experiments, the velocity distribution of the WIMPs in our model is non-Maxwellian with a cut-off at a maximum velocity that is self-consistently determined by the model itself. For our halo model that provides the best fit to the rotation curve data, the 90% C.L. upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section from the recent results of the CDMS-II experiment, for example, is ~ 5.3 × 10-8 pb at a WIMP mass of ~ 71 GeV. We also find, using the original 2-bin annual modulation amplitude data on the nuclear recoil event rate seen in the DAMA experiment, that there exists a range of small WIMP masses, typically ~ 2-16 GeV, within which DAMA collaboration's claimed annual modulation signal purportedly due to WIMPs is compatible with the null results of other experiments. These results, based as they are on a self-consistent model of the dark matter halo of the Galaxy, strengthen the possibility of low-mass (lsim10 GeV) WIMPs as a candidate for dark matter as indicated by several earlier studies performed within the context of the SHM. A more rigorous analysis using DAMA bins over smaller intervals should be able to better constrain the ``DAMA regions'' in the WIMP parameter space within the context of

  8. Search for WIMP dark matter produced in association with a Z boson with the ATLAS detector

    CERN Document Server

    Basalaev, Artem; The ATLAS collaboration

    2016-01-01

    The search for weakly interacting dark matter particle (WIMP) candidates produced in association with a Z boson is presented. Events with large missing transverse momentum and consistent with the decay of a Z boson into oppositely charged electron or muon pairs were selected in analysis. Background estimates and corresponding systematic uncertainties are shown. The limits on the mass scale of the contact interaction as a function of the dark matter particle mass and the limits on the coupling and scalar particle mediator mass for 8 TeV proton-proton collisions data are presented. Prospects for analysis using 13 TeV proton-proton collisions data are discussed.

  9. Search for WIMP dark matter produced in association with a Z boson with the ATLAS detector

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00399337; The ATLAS collaboration

    2016-01-01

    The search for weakly interacting dark matter particle (WIMP) candidates produced in association with a Z boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. Events with large missing transverse momentum and consistent with the decay of a Z boson into oppositely charged electron or muon pairs were selected in analysis. Background estimates and corresponding systematic uncertainties are shown. The limits on the mass scale of the contact interaction as a function of the dark matter particle mass and the limits on the coupling and scalar particle mediator mass for 8 TeV proton-proton collisions data are presented. Prospects for analysis using 13 TeV proton-proton collisions data are discussed.

  10. Supersymmetry with Radiatively-Driven Naturalness: Implications for WIMP and Axion Searches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyu Jung Bae

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available By insisting on naturalness in both the electroweak and quantum chromodynamics (QCD sectors of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM, the portrait for dark matter production is seriously modified from the usual weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP miracle picture. In supersymmetry (SUSY models with radiatively-driven naturalness (radiative natural SUSY or radiative natural SUSY (RNS which include a Dine–Fischler–Srednicki–Zhitnitsky (DFSZ-like solution to the strong charge-conjugation-parity (CP and SUSY \\(\\mu\\ problems, dark matter is expected to be an admixture of both axions and higgsino-like WIMPs. The WIMP/axion abundance calculation requires simultaneous solution of a set of coupled Boltzmann equations which describe quasi-stable axinos and saxions. In most of parameter space, axions make up the dominant contribution of dark matter although regions of WIMP dominance also occur. We show the allowed range of Peccei-Quinn (PQ scale \\(f_a\\ and compare to the values expected to be probed by the axion dark matter search experiment (ADMX axion detector in the near future. We also show WIMP detection rates, which are suppressed from usual expectations, because now WIMPs comprise only a fraction of the total dark matter. Nonetheless, ton-scale noble liquid detectors should be able to probe the entirety of RNS parameter space. Indirect WIMP detection rates are less propitious since they are reduced by the square of the depleted WIMP abundance.

  11. The DarkStars code: a publicly available dark stellar evolution package

    CERN Document Server

    Scott, Pat; Fairbairn, Malcolm

    2009-01-01

    We announce the public release of the 'dark' stellar evolution code DarkStars. The code simultaneously solves the equations of WIMP capture and annihilation in a star with those of stellar evolution assuming approximate hydrostatic equilibrium. DarkStars includes the most extensive WIMP microphysics of any dark evolution code to date. The code employs detailed treatments of the capture process from a range of WIMP velocity distributions, as well as composite WIMP distribution and conductive energy transport schemes based on the WIMP mean-free path in the star. We give a brief description of the input physics and practical usage of the code, as well as examples of its application to dark stars at the Galactic centre.

  12. Complementarity of WIMP Sensitivity with direct SUSY, Monojet and Dark Matter Searches in the MSSM

    CERN Document Server

    Arbey, Alexandre; Mahmoudi, Farvah

    2014-01-01

    This letter presents new results on the combined sensitivity of the LHC and underground dark matter search experiments to the lightest neutralino as WIMP candidate in the minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. We show that monojet searches significantly extend the sensitivity to the neutralino mass in scenarios where scalar quarks are nearly degenerate in mass with it. The inclusion of the latest bound by the LUX experiment on the neutralino-nucleon spin-independent scattering cross section expands this sensitivity further, highlighting the remarkable complementarity of jets/$\\ell$s+MET and monojet at LHC and dark matter searches in probing models of new physics with a dark matter candidate. The qualitative results of our study remain valid after accounting for theoretical uncertainties.

  13. Calculated WIMP signals at the ANDES laboratory: comparison with northern and southern located dark matter detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Civitarese, O.; Fushimi, K. J.; Mosquera, M. E.

    2016-12-01

    Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are possible components of the Universe’s dark matter (DM). The detection of WIMPs is signaled by the recoil of the atomic nuclei which form a detector. CoGeNT at the Soudan Underground Laboratory (SUL) and DAMA at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) have reported data on annual modulation of signals attributed to WIMPs. Both experiments are located in laboratories in the Northern Hemisphere. DM detectors are planned to operate (or already operate) in laboratories in the Southern Hemisphere, including SABRE at Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia, and DM-ICE in Antarctica. In this work we have analyzed the dependence of diurnal and annual modulation of signals, pertaining to the detection of WIMP, on the coordinates of the laboratory, for experiments which may be performed in the planned new Agua Negra Deep Experimental Site (ANDES) underground facility, to be built in San Juan, Argentina. We made predictions for NaI and Ge-type detectors placed in ANDES, to compare with DAMA, CoGeNT, SABRE and DM-ICE arrays, and found that the diurnal modulation of the signals, at the ANDES site, is amplified at its maximum value, both for NaI (Ge)-type detectors, while the annual modulation remains unaffected by the change in coordinates from north to south.

  14. Calculated WIMP signals at the ANDES laboratory: comparison with northern and southern located dark matter detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Civitarese, O; Mosquera, M E; Fushimi, K J

    2016-01-01

    Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are possible components of the Universe’s dark matter (DM). The detection of WIMPs is signaled by the recoil of the atomic nuclei which form a detector. CoGeNT at the Soudan Underground Laboratory (SUL) and DAMA at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) have reported data on annual modulation of signals attributed to WIMPs. Both experiments are located in laboratories in the Northern Hemisphere. DM detectors are planned to operate (or already operate) in laboratories in the Southern Hemisphere, including SABRE at Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia, and DM-ICE in Antarctica. In this work we have analyzed the dependence of diurnal and annual modulation of signals, pertaining to the detection of WIMP, on the coordinates of the laboratory, for experiments which may be performed in the planned new Agua Negra Deep Experimental Site (ANDES) underground facility, to be built in San Juan, Argentina. We made predictions for NaI and Ge-type detectors placed in ANDES, to compare with DAMA, CoGeNT, SABRE and DM-ICE arrays, and found that the diurnal modulation of the signals, at the ANDES site, is amplified at its maximum value, both for NaI (Ge)-type detectors, while the annual modulation remains unaffected by the change in coordinates from north to south. (paper)

  15. From superWIMPs to decaying dark matter. Models, bounds and indirect searches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weniger, Christoph

    2010-06-01

    Despite lots of observational and theoretical efforts, the particle nature of dark matter remains unknown. Beyond the paradigmatic WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), many theoretically well motivated models exist where dark matter interacts much more weakly than electroweak with Standard Model particles. In this case new phenomena occur, like the decay of dark matter or the interference with the standard cosmology of the early Universe. In this thesis we study some of these aspects of superweakly coupled dark matter in general, and in the special case of hidden U(1) X gauginos that kinetically mix with hypercharge. There, we will assume that the gauge group remains unbroken, similar to the Standard Model U(1) em . We study different kinds of cosmological bounds, including bounds from thermal overproduction, from primordial nucleosynthesis and from structure formation. Furthermore, we study the possible cosmic-ray signatures predicted by this scenario, with emphasis on the electron and positron channel in light of the recent observations by PAMELA and Fermi LAT. Moreover we study the cosmic-ray signatures of decaying dark matter independently of concrete particle-physics models. In particular we analyze in how far the rise in the positron fraction above 10 GeV, as observed by PAMELA, can be explained by dark matter decay. Lastly, we concentrate on related predictions for gamma-ray observations with the Fermi LAT, and propose to use the dipole-like anisotropy of the prompt gamma-ray dark matter signal to distinguish exotic dark matter contributions from the extragalactic gamma-ray background. (orig.)

  16. From superWIMPs to decaying dark matter. Models, bounds and indirect searches

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weniger, Christoph

    2010-06-15

    Despite lots of observational and theoretical efforts, the particle nature of dark matter remains unknown. Beyond the paradigmatic WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), many theoretically well motivated models exist where dark matter interacts much more weakly than electroweak with Standard Model particles. In this case new phenomena occur, like the decay of dark matter or the interference with the standard cosmology of the early Universe. In this thesis we study some of these aspects of superweakly coupled dark matter in general, and in the special case of hidden U(1){sub X} gauginos that kinetically mix with hypercharge. There, we will assume that the gauge group remains unbroken, similar to the Standard Model U(1){sub em}. We study different kinds of cosmological bounds, including bounds from thermal overproduction, from primordial nucleosynthesis and from structure formation. Furthermore, we study the possible cosmic-ray signatures predicted by this scenario, with emphasis on the electron and positron channel in light of the recent observations by PAMELA and Fermi LAT. Moreover we study the cosmic-ray signatures of decaying dark matter independently of concrete particle-physics models. In particular we analyze in how far the rise in the positron fraction above 10 GeV, as observed by PAMELA, can be explained by dark matter decay. Lastly, we concentrate on related predictions for gamma-ray observations with the Fermi LAT, and propose to use the dipole-like anisotropy of the prompt gamma-ray dark matter signal to distinguish exotic dark matter contributions from the extragalactic gamma-ray background. (orig.)

  17. No WIMP mini-spikes in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wanders, M.; Bertone, G.; Volonteri, M.; Weniger, C.

    2015-01-01

    The formation of black holes inevitably affects the distribution of dark and baryonic matter in their vicinity, leading to an enhancement of the dark matter density, called spike, and if dark matter is made of WIMPs, to a strong enhancement of the dark matter annihilation rate. Spikes at the center

  18. arXiv Uncertainties in WIMP Dark Matter Scattering Revisited

    CERN Document Server

    Ellis, John; Olive, Keith A.

    We revisit the uncertainties in the calculation of spin-independent scattering matrix elements for the scattering of WIMP dark matter particles on nuclear matter. In addition to discussing the uncertainties due to limitations in our knowledge of the nucleonic matrix elements of the light quark scalar densities , we also discuss the importances of heavy quark scalar densities , and comment on uncertainties in quark mass ratios. We analyze estimates of the light-quark densities made over the past decade using lattice calculations and/or phenomenological inputs. We find an uncertainty in the combination that is larger than has been assumed in some phenomenological analyses, and a range of that is smaller but compatible with earlier estimates. We also analyze the importance of the {\\cal O}(\\alpha_s^3) calculations of the heavy-quark matrix elements that are now available, which provide an important refinement of the calculation of the spin-independent scattering cross section. We use for illustration a benchmar...

  19. Proceedings of the 4th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lindner, Axel; Redondo, Javier; Ringwald, Andreas [eds.

    2008-08-15

    The following topics were dealt with: Physical foundations for WIMPs, axions, and WISPS, signals from astrophysical sources, direct searches for dark matter WIMPs, new theoretical developments, new experimental approaches. (HSI)

  20. Proceedings of the 4th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindner, Axel; Redondo, Javier; Ringwald, Andreas

    2008-08-01

    The following topics were dealt with: Physical foundations for WIMPs, axions, and WISPS, signals from astrophysical sources, direct searches for dark matter WIMPs, new theoretical developments, new experimental approaches. (HSI)

  1. Exclusion limits on the WIMP-nucleon cross section from the first run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in the Soudan Underground Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akerib, D.S.; Bailey, C.N.; Dragowsky, M.R.; Driscoll, D.D.; Hennings-Yeomans, R.; Kamat, S.; Perera, T.A.; Schnee, R.W.; Wang, G.; Armel-Funkhouser, M.S.; Daal, M.; Filippini, J.; Lu, A.; Mandic, V.; Meunier, P.; Mirabolfathi, N.; Issac, M.C. Perillo; Rau, W.; Seitz, D.N.; Serfass, B.

    2005-01-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) employs low-temperature Ge and Si detectors to seek weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) via their elastic-scattering interactions with nuclei. Simultaneous measurements of both ionization and phonon energy provide discrimination against interactions of background particles. For recoil energies above 10 keV, events due to background photons are rejected with >99.99% efficiency. Electromagnetic events very near the detector surface can mimic nuclear recoils because of reduced charge collection, but these surface events are rejected with >96% efficiency by using additional information from the phonon pulse shape. Efficient use of active and passive shielding, combined with the 2090 m.w.e. overburden at the experimental site in the Soudan mine, makes the background from neutrons negligible for this first exposure. All cuts are determined in a blind manner from in situ calibrations with external radioactive sources without any prior knowledge of the event distribution in the signal region. Resulting efficiencies are known to ∼10%. A single event with a recoil of 64 keV passes all of the cuts and is consistent with the expected misidentification rate of surface electron recoils. Under the assumptions for a standard dark matter halo, these data exclude previously unexplored parameter space for both spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering. The resulting limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering cross section has a minimum of 4x10 -43 cm 2 at a WIMP mass of 60 GeVc -2 . The minimum of the limit for the spin-dependent WIMP-neutron elastic-scattering cross section is 2x10 -37 cm 2 at a WIMP mass of 50 GeVc -2

  2. The WIMP Forest: Indirect Detection of a Chiral Square

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bertone, Gianfranco; Jackson, C.B.; Shaughnessy, Gabe; Tait, Tim M.P.; Vallinotto, Alberto

    2009-04-01

    The spectrum of photons arising from WIMP annihilation carries a detailed imprint of the structure of the dark sector. In particular, loop-level annihilations into a photon and another boson can in principle lead to a series of lines (a WIMP forest) at energies up to the WIMP mass. A specific model which illustrates this feature nicely is a theory of two universal extra dimensions compactified on a chiral square. Aside from the continuum emission, which is a generic prediction of most dark matter candidates, we find a 'forest' of prominent annihilation lines that, after convolution with the angular resolution of current experiments, leads to a distinctive (2-bump plus continuum) spectrum, which may be visible in the near future with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (formerly known as GLAST).

  3. DarkSide-50, a background free experiment for dark matter searches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bossa, M

    2014-01-01

    The existence of dark matter is inferred from gravitational effects, but its nature remains a deep mystery. One possibility, motivated by considerations in elementary particle physics, is that dark matter consists of elementary particles, such as the hypothesized Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), with mass ∼ 100 GeV and cross-section ∼ 10 −47 cm 2 , that can be gravitationally trapped inside our galaxy and revealed by their scattering on nuclei. It should be possible to detect WIMPs directly, as the orbital motion of the WIMPs composing the dark matter halo pervading the galaxy should result in WIMP-nucleus collisions of sufficient energy to be observable in the laboratory. The DarkSide-50 experiment is a direct WIMP search using a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr-TPC) with an active mass of 50 kg with a high sensitivity and an ultra-low background detector

  4. Understanding WIMP-baryon interactions with direct detection: a roadmap

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gluscevic, Vera; Peter, Annika H.G.

    2014-01-01

    We study prospects of dark-matter direct-detection searches for probing non-relativistic effective theory for WIMP-baryon scattering. We simulate a large set of noisy recoil-energy spectra for different scattering scenarios (beyond the standard momentum-independent contact interaction), for Generation 2 and futuristic experiments. We analyze these simulations and quantify the probability of successfully identifying the operator governing the scattering, if a WIMP signal is observed. We find that the success rate depends on a combination of factors: the WIMP mass, the mediator mass, the type of interaction, and the experimental energy window. For example, for a 20 GeV WIMP, Generation 2 is only likely to identify the right operator if the interaction is Coulomb-like, and is unlikely to do so in any other case. For a WIMP with a mass of 200 GeV or higher, success is almost guaranteed. We also find that, regardless of the scattering model and the WIMP parameters, a single Generation 2 experiment is unlikely to successfully discern the momentum dependence of the underlying operator on its own, but prospects improve drastically when experiments with different target materials and energy windows are analyzed jointly. Furthermore, we examine the quality of parameter estimation and degeneracies in the multi-dimensional parameter space of the effective theory. We find in particular that the resulting WIMP mass estimates can be severely biased if data are analyzed assuming the standard (momentum-independent) operator while the actual operator has momentum-dependence. Finally, we evaluate the ultimate reach of direct detection, finding that the prospects for successful operator selection prior to reaching the irreducible backgrounds are excellent, if the signal is just below the current limits, but slim if Generation 2 does not report WIMP detection

  5. First 5 tower WIMP-search results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search with improved understanding of neutron backgrounds and benchmarking

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hennings-Yeomans, Raul [Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States)

    2009-02-01

    Non-baryonic dark matter makes one quarter of the energy density of the Universe and is concentrated in the halos of galaxies, including the Milky Way. The Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) is a dark matter candidate with a scattering cross section with an atomic nucleus of the order of the weak interaction and a mass comparable to that of an atomic nucleus. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) experiment, using Ge and Si cryogenic particle detectors at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, aims to directly detect nuclear recoils from WIMP interactions. This thesis presents the first 5 tower WIMP-search results from CDMS-II, an estimate of the cosmogenic neutron backgrounds expected at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, and a proposal for a new measurement of high-energy neutrons underground to benchmark the Monte Carlo simulations. Based on the non-observation of WIMPs and using standard assumptions about the galactic halo [68], the 90% C.L. upper limit of the spin-independent WIMPnucleon cross section for the first 5 tower run is 6.6 × 10-44cm2 for a 60 GeV/c2 WIMP mass. A combined limit using all the data taken at Soudan results in an upper limit of 4.6×10-44cm2 at 90% C.L.for a 60 GeV/c2 WIMP mass. This new limit corresponds to a factor of ~3 improvement over any previous CDMS-II limit and a factor of ~2 above 60 GeV/c 2 better than any other WIMP search to date. This thesis presents an estimation, based on Monte Carlo simulations, of the nuclear recoils produced by cosmic-ray muons and their secondaries (at the Soudan site) for a 5 tower Ge and Si configuration as well as for a 7 supertower array. The results of the Monte Carlo are that CDMS-II should expect 0.06 ± 0.02+0.18 -0.02 /kgyear unvetoed single nuclear recoils in Ge for the 5 tower configuration, and 0.05 ± 0.01+0.15 -0.02 /kg-year for the 7 supertower configuration. The systematic error is based on the available

  6. Results from the DarkSide-50 Dark Matter Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fan, Alden [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

    2016-01-01

    While there is tremendous astrophysical and cosmological evidence for dark matter, its precise nature is one of the most significant open questions in modern physics. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are a particularly compelling class of dark matter candidates with masses of the order 100 GeV and couplings to ordinary matter at the weak scale. Direct detection experiments are aiming to observe the low energy (<100 keV) scattering of dark matter off normal matter. With the liquid noble technology leading the way in WIMP sensitivity, no conclusive signals have been observed yet. The DarkSide experiment is looking for WIMP dark matter using a liquid argon target in a dual-phase time projection chamber located deep underground at Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy. Currently filled with argon obtained from underground sources, which is greatly reduced in radioactive 39Ar, DarkSide-50 recently made the most sensitive measurement of the 39Ar activity in underground argon and used it to set the strongest WIMP dark matter limit using liquid argon to date. This work describes the full chain of analysis used to produce the recent dark matter limit, from reconstruction of raw data to evaluation of the final exclusion curve. The DarkSide- 50 apparatus is described in detail, followed by discussion of the low level reconstruction algorithms. The algorithms are then used to arrive at three broad analysis results: The electroluminescence signals in DarkSide-50 are used to perform a precision measurement of ii longitudinal electron diffusion in liquid argon. A search is performed on the underground argon data to identify the delayed coincidence signature of 85Kr decays to the 85mRb state, a crucial ingredient in the measurement of the 39Ar activity in the underground argon. Finally, a full description of the WIMP search is given, including development of cuts, efficiencies, energy scale, and exclusion

  7. To catch a WIMP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldsmith, Donald.

    1995-01-01

    In the rush to account for the missing ''dark matter'' in the universe, many teams of cosmologists are setting up experiments to prove the existence of a hypothetical form of matter called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPS. The innovative research ideas developed by these teams are described and compared briefly. (UK)

  8. WIMP-nucleus scattering in chiral effective theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cirigliano, Vincenzo; Graesser, Michael L.; Ovanesyan, Grigory

    2012-10-01

    We discuss long-distance QCD corrections to the WIMP-nucleon(s) interactions in the framework of chiral effective theory. For scalar-mediated WIMP-quark interactions, we calculate all the next-to-leading-order corrections to the WIMP-nucleus elastic cross-section, including two-nucleon amplitudes and recoil-energy dependent shifts to the single-nucleon scalar form factors. As a consequence, the scalar-mediated WIMP-nucleus cross-section cannot be parameterized in terms of just two quantities, namely the neutron and proton scalar form factors at zero momentum transfer, but additional parameters appear, depending on the short-distance WIMP-quark interaction. Moreover, multiplicative factorization of the cross-section into particle, nuclear and astro-particle parts is violated. In practice, while the new effects are of the natural size expected by chiral power counting, they become very important in those regions of parameter space where the leading order WIMP-nucleus amplitude is suppressed, including the so-called "isospin-violating dark matter" regime. In these regions of parameter space we find order-of-magnitude corrections to the total scattering rates and qualitative changes to the shape of recoil spectra.

  9. Material radioassay and selection for the XENON1T dark matter experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aprile, E.; Anthony, M.; De Perio, P.; Gao, F.; Goetzke, L.W.; Greene, Z.; Lin, Q.; Messina, M.; Plante, G.; Rizzo, A.; Zhang, Y. [Columbia University, Physics Department, New York, NY (United States); Aalbers, J.; Breur, P.A.; Brown, A.; Colijn, A.P.; Decowski, M.P.; Hogenbirk, E.; Tiseni, A. [Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Agostini, F. [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, L' Aquila (Italy); Gran Sasso Science Institute, L' Aquila (Italy); University of Bologna, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Bologna (Italy); INFN-Bologna (Italy); Alfonsi, M.; Geis, C.; Grignon, C.; Oberlack, U.; Scheibelhut, M.; Schindler, S. [Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Institut fuer Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA, Mainz (Germany); Amaro, F.D.; Cardoso, J.M.R.; Lopes, J.A.M.; Santos, J.M.F. dos; Silva, M. [University of Coimbra, LIBPhys, Department of Physics, Coimbra (Portugal); Arneodo, F.; Benabderrahmane, M.L.; Maris, I. [New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Barrow, P.; Baudis, L.; Di Giovanni, A.; Franco, D.; Galloway, M.; Kessler, G.; Kish, A.; Mayani, D.; Pakarha, P.; Piastra, F.; Wei, Y.; Wulf, J. [University of Zurich, Physik Institut, Zurich (Switzerland); Bauermeister, B. [Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Institut fuer Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA, Mainz (Germany); Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm (Sweden); Berger, T.; Brown, E.; Piro, M.C. [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Troy, NY (United States); Sivers, M. von [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy; Bern Univ. (Switzerland). Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics; Bruenner, S.; Cichon, D.; Eurin, G.; Hasterok, C.; Lindemann, S.; Lindner, M.; Marrodan Undagoitia, T.; Pizzella, V.; Rauch, L.; Rupp, N.; Schreiner, J.; Simgen, H. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Bruno, G.; Gallo Rosso, A.; Molinario, A.; Laubenstein, M.; Nisi, S. [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, L' Aquila (Italy); Gran Sasso Science Institute, L' Aquila (Italy); Budnik, R.; Itay, R.; Landsman, H.; Lellouch, D.; Levinson, L.; Manfredini, A.; Priel, N. [Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Rehovot (Israel); Buetikofer, L.; Coderre, D.; Kaminsky, B.; Schumann, M. [Universitaet Freiburg, Physikalisches Institut, Freiburg (Germany); Calven, J.; Conrad, J.; Ferella, A.D.; Pelssers, B. [Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm (Sweden); Cervantes, M.; Lang, R.F.; Masson, D.; Pienaar, J.; Reichard, S.; Reuter, C. [Purdue University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Lafayette, IN (United States); Cussonneau, J.P.; Diglio, S.; Le Calloch, M.; Masbou, J.; Micheneau, K.; Persiani, R.; Thers, D. [Universite de Nantes, SUBATECH, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, CNRS/IN2P3, Nantes (France); Di Gangi, P.; Garbini, M.; Massoli, F.V.; Sartorelli, G.; Selvi, M. [University of Bologna, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Bologna (Italy); INFN-Bologna (Italy); Fei, J.; Ni, K.; Ye, J. [University of California, Department of Physics, San Diego, CA (United States); Fieguth, A.; Murra, M.; Rosendahl, S.; Weinheimer, C. [Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Muenster (Germany); Fulgione, W. [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, L' Aquila (Italy); Gran Sasso Science Institute, L' Aquila (Italy); INFN-Torino (Italy); Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Torino (Italy); Grandi, L.; Saldanha, R.; Shockley, E.; Upole, N. [University of Chicago, Department of Physics and Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics, Chicago, IL (United States); Miguez, B.; Trinchero, G. [INFN-Torino (Italy); Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Torino (Italy); Naganoma, J.; Shagin, P. [Rice University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Houston, TX (United States); Scotto Lavina, L. [Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Universite Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, LPNHE, Paris (France); Stein, A.; Wang, H. [University of California, Physics and Astronomy Department, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Tunnell, C. [Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands); University of Chicago, Department of Physics and Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics, Chicago, IL (United States); Collaboration: XENON Collaboration

    2017-12-15

    The XENON1T dark matter experiment aims to detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) through low-energy interactions with xenon atoms. To detect such a rare event necessitates the use of radiopure materials to minimize the number of background events within the expected WIMP signal region. In this paper we report the results of an extensive material radioassay campaign for the XENON1T experiment. Using gamma-ray spectroscopy and mass spectrometry techniques, systematic measurements of trace radioactive impurities in over one hundred samples within a wide range of materials were performed. The measured activities allowed for stringent selection and placement of materials during the detector construction phase and provided the input for XENON1T detection sensitivity estimates through Monte Carlo simulations. (orig.)

  10. Direct detection of dark matter with the EDELWEISS-III experiment: signals induced by charge trapping, data analysis and characterization of cryogenic detector sensitivity to low-mass WIMPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arnaud, Quentin

    2015-01-01

    The EDELWEISS-III experiment is dedicated to direct dark matter searches aiming at detecting WIMPS. These massive particles should account for more than 80% of the mass of the Universe and be detectable through their elastic scattering on nuclei constituting the absorber of a detector. As the expected WIMP event rate is extremely low ( 20 GeV). Finally, a study dedicated to the optimization of solid cryogenic detectors to low mass WIMP searches is presented. This study is performed on simulated data using a statistical test based on a profiled likelihood ratio that allows for statistical background subtraction and spectral shape discrimination. This study combined with results from Run308, has lead the EDELWEISS experiment to favor low mass WIMP searches ( [fr

  11. The Fraternal WIMP Miracle

    CERN Document Server

    Craig, Nathaniel

    2015-01-01

    We identify and analyze thermal dark matter candidates in the fraternal twin Higgs model and its generalizations. The relic abundance of fraternal twin dark matter is set by twin weak interactions, with a scale tightly tied to the weak scale of the Standard Model by naturalness considerations. As such, the dark matter candidates benefit from a "fraternal WIMP miracle," reproducing the observed dark matter abundance for dark matter masses between 50 and 150 GeV. However, the couplings dominantly responsible for dark matter annihilation do not lead to interactions with the visible sector. The direct detection rate is instead set via fermionic Higgs portal interactions, which are likewise constrained by naturalness considerations but parametrically weaker than those leading to dark matter annihilation. The predicted direct detection cross section is close to current LUX bounds and presents an opportunity for the next generation of direct detection experiments.

  12. Boffins go underground searching for Wimps

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    In a bid to identify the prime suspect for Dark Matter known as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or Wimps, British scientists have installed detectors 1100m down a salt mine at Boulby on the North Yorkshire moors (1/2 page).

  13. Halo-independent analysis of direct detection data for light WIMPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nobile, Eugenio Del; Gelmini, Graciela B.; Huh, Ji-Haeng; Gondolo, Paolo

    2013-01-01

    We present a halo-independent analysis of direct detection data on ''light WIMPs'', i.e. weakly interacting massive particles with mass close to or below 10 GeV/c 2 . We include new results from silicon CDMS detectors (bounds and excess events), the latest CoGeNT acceptances, and recent measurements of low sodium quenching factors in NaI crystals. We focus on light WIMPs with spin-independent isospin-conserving and isospin-violating interactions with nucleons. For these dark matter candidates we find that a low quenching factor would make the DAMA modulation incompatible with a reasonable escape velocity for the dark matter halo, and that the tension among experimental data tightens in both the isospin-conserving and isospin-violating scenarios. We also find that a new although milder tension appears between the CoGeNT and DAMA annual modulations on one side and the silicon excess events on the other, in that it seems difficult to interpret them as the modulated and unmodulated aspects of the same WIMP dark matter signal

  14. NEWSdm: Nuclear Emulsions for WIMP Search with directional measurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Di Crescenzo A.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Direct Dark Matter searches are nowadays one of the most exciting research topics. Several experimental efforts are concentrated on the development, construction, and operation of detectors looking for the scattering of target nuclei with Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs. The measurement of the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a challenging strategy to extend dark matter searches beyond the neutrino floor and provide an unambiguous signature of the detection of Galactic dark matter. Current directional experiments are based on the use of gas TPC whose sensitivity is strongly limited by the small achievable detector mass. We present an innovative directional experiment based on the use of a solid target made by newly developed nuclear emulsions and read-out systems reaching a position resolution of the order of 10 nm.

  15. NEWSdm: Nuclear Emulsions for WIMP Search with directional measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Crescenzo, A.

    2017-12-01

    Direct Dark Matter searches are nowadays one of the most exciting research topics. Several experimental efforts are concentrated on the development, construction, and operation of detectors looking for the scattering of target nuclei with Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs). The measurement of the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a challenging strategy to extend dark matter searches beyond the neutrino floor and provide an unambiguous signature of the detection of Galactic dark matter. Current directional experiments are based on the use of gas TPC whose sensitivity is strongly limited by the small achievable detector mass. We present an innovative directional experiment based on the use of a solid target made by newly developed nuclear emulsions and read-out systems reaching a position resolution of the order of 10 nm.

  16. Dark Matter Detection: Current Status

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akerib, Daniel S.

    2011-01-01

    Overwhelming observational evidence indicates that most of the matter in the Universe consists of non-baryonic dark matter. One possibility is that the dark matter is Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that were produced in the early Universe. These relics could comprise the Milky Way's dark halo and provide evidence for new particle physics, such as Supersymmetry. This talk focuses on the status of current efforts to detect dark matter by testing the hypothesis that WIMPs exist in the galactic halo. WIMP searches have begun to explore the region of parameter space where SUSY particles could provide dark matter candidates.

  17. ZEPLIN-II limits on WIMP-nucelon interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alner, G. J.; Bungau, C.; Camanzi, B.; Durkin, T.; Edwards, B.; Lewin, J. D.; Luescher, R.; Preece, R. M.; Smith, N. J. T.; Smith, P. F.; Sumner, T. J.; Thorne, C.; Araujo, H. M.; Bewick, A.; Davidge, D.; Dawson, J.; Howard, A. S.; Jones, W. G.; Joshi, M.; Lebedenko, V. N.

    2009-01-01

    ZEPLIN II is a two-phase xenon detector designed to detect dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). Following the first 31-day underground run in Boulby Mine, UK, the collaboration published dark matter limits in January 2007; the first such limits using two-phase xenon technology. We outline the key detector design, performance and results here.

  18. Gravitational wave from dark sector with dark pion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tsumura, Koji [Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan); Yamada, Masatoshi [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany); Yamaguchi, Yuya, E-mail: ko2@gauge.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp, E-mail: m.yamada@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de, E-mail: yy@particle.sci.hokudai.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810 (Japan)

    2017-07-01

    In this work, we investigate the spectra of gravitational waves produced by chiral symmetry breaking in dark quantum chromodynamics (dQCD) sector. The dark pion (π) can be a dark matter candidate as weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) or strongly interacting massive particle (SIMP). For a WIMP scenario, we introduce the dQCD sector coupled to the standard model (SM) sector with classical scale invariance and investigate the annihilation process of the dark pion via the 2π → 2 SM process. For a SIMP scenario, we investigate the 3π → 2π annihilation process of the dark pion as a SIMP using chiral perturbation theory. We find that in the WIMP scenario the gravitational wave background spectra can be observed by future space gravitational wave antennas. On the other hand, when the dark pion is the SIMP dark matter with the constraints for the chiral perturbative limit and pion-pion scattering cross section, the chiral phase transition becomes crossover and then the gravitational waves are not produced.

  19. Looking for the WIMP next door

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Jared A.; Gori, Stefania; Shelton, Jessie

    2018-02-01

    We comprehensively study experimental constraints and prospects for a class of minimal hidden sector dark matter (DM) models, highlighting how the cosmological history of these models informs the experimental signals. We study simple `secluded' models, where the DM freezes out into unstable dark mediator states, and consider the minimal cosmic history of this dark sector, where coupling of the dark mediator to the SM was sufficient to keep the two sectors in thermal equilibrium at early times. In the well-motivated case where the dark mediators couple to the Standard Model (SM) via renormalizable interactions, the requirement of thermal equilibrium provides a minimal, UV-insensitive, and predictive cosmology for hidden sector dark matter. We call DM that freezes out of a dark radiation bath in thermal equilibrium with the SM a WIMP next door, and demonstrate that the parameter space for such WIMPs next door is sharply defined, bounded, and in large part potentially accessible. This parameter space, and the corresponding signals, depend on the leading interaction between the SM and the dark mediator; we establish it for both Higgs and vector portal interactions. In particular, there is a cosmological lower bound on the portal coupling strength necessary to thermalize the two sectors in the early universe. We determine this thermalization floor as a function of equilibration temperature for the first time. We demonstrate that direct detection experiments are currently probing this cosmological lower bound in some regions of parameter space, while indirect detection signals and terrestrial searches for the mediator cut further into the viable parameter space. We present regions of interest for both direct detection and dark mediator searches, including motivated parameter space for the direct detection of sub-GeV DM.

  20. First low WIMP mass results in EDELWEISS III experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scorza, Silvia [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, Postfach 3640, Karlsruhe (Germany); Collaboration: EDELWEISS-Collaboration

    2016-07-01

    The EDELWEISS-III collaboration is operating an experiment for the direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMPs) dark matter in the low radioactivity environment of the Modane Underground Laboratory. It consists of twenty-four advanced high purity germanium detectors operating at 18 mK in a dilution refrigerator in order to identify rare nuclear recoils induced by elastic scattering of WIMPs from our Galactic halo. The current EDELWEISS-III program, including improvements of the background, data-acquisition and the configuration is detailed. Sources of background along with the rejection techniques are discussed. Detector performances and a first low WIMP mass analysis of data acquired in a long-term campaign are presented as well.

  1. Dark matter at the Fermi scale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Jonathan L

    2006-01-01

    Recent breakthroughs in cosmology reveal that a quarter of the Universe is composed of dark matter, but the microscopic identity of dark matter remains a deep mystery. I review recent progress in resolving this puzzle, focusing on two well-motivated classes of dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and superWIMPs. These possibilities have similar motivations: they exist in the same well-motivated particle physics models, the observed dark matter relic density emerges naturally and dark matter particles have mass around 100 GeV, the energy scale identified as interesting over 70 years ago by Fermi. At the same time, they have widely varying implications for direct and indirect dark matter searches, particle colliders, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background, and halo profiles and structure formation. If WIMPs or superWIMPs are a significant component of dark matter, we will soon be entering a golden era in which dark matter will be studied through diverse probes at the interface of particle physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology. I outline a programme of dark matter studies for each of these scenarios and discuss the prospects for identifying dark matter in the coming years. (topical review)

  2. Improved EDELWEISS-III sensitivity for low-mass WIMPs using a profile likelihood approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hehn, L. [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Armengaud, E.; Boissiere, T. de; Gros, M.; Navick, X.F.; Nones, C.; Paul, B. [CEA Saclay, DSM/IRFU, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France); Arnaud, Q. [Univ Lyon, Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut de Physique Nucleaire de Lyon, Lyon (France); Queen' s University, Kingston (Canada); Augier, C.; Billard, J.; Cazes, A.; Charlieux, F.; Jesus, M. de; Gascon, J.; Juillard, A.; Queguiner, E.; Sanglard, V.; Vagneron, L. [Univ Lyon, Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut de Physique Nucleaire de Lyon, Lyon (France); Benoit, A.; Camus, P. [Institut Neel, CNRS/UJF, Grenoble (France); Berge, L.; Chapellier, M.; Dumoulin, L.; Giuliani, A.; Le-Sueur, H.; Marnieros, S.; Olivieri, E.; Poda, D. [CSNSM, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Universite Paris-Saclay, Orsay (France); Bluemer, J. [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Broniatowski, A. [CSNSM, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Universite Paris-Saclay, Orsay (France); Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Eitel, K.; Kozlov, V.; Siebenborn, B. [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Foerster, N.; Heuermann, G.; Scorza, S. [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Jin, Y. [Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures, CNRS, Route de Nozay, Marcoussis (France); Kefelian, C. [Univ Lyon, Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut de Physique Nucleaire de Lyon, Lyon (France); Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Kleifges, M.; Tcherniakhovski, D.; Weber, M. [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Prozessdatenverarbeitung und Elektronik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Kraus, H. [University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Oxford (United Kingdom); Kudryavtsev, V.A. [University of Sheffield, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Pari, P. [CEA Saclay, DSM/IRAMIS, Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Piro, M.C. [CSNSM, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Universite Paris-Saclay, Orsay (France); Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (United States); Rozov, S.; Yakushev, E. [JINR, Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, Dubna, Moscow Region (Russian Federation); Schmidt, B. [Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Karlsruhe (Germany); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2016-10-15

    We report on a dark matter search for a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) in the mass range m{sub χ} element of [4, 30] GeV/c{sup 2} with the EDELWEISS-III experiment. A 2D profile likelihood analysis is performed on data from eight selected detectors with the lowest energy thresholds leading to a combined fiducial exposure of 496 kg-days. External backgrounds from γ- and β-radiation, recoils from {sup 206}Pb and neutrons as well as detector intrinsic backgrounds were modelled from data outside the region of interest and constrained in the analysis. The basic data selection and most of the background models are the same as those used in a previously published analysis based on boosted decision trees (BDT) [1]. For the likelihood approach applied in the analysis presented here, a larger signal efficiency and a subtraction of the expected background lead to a higher sensitivity, especially for the lowest WIMP masses probed. No statistically significant signal was found and upper limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section can be set with a hypothesis test based on the profile likelihood test statistics. The 90 % C.L. exclusion limit set for WIMPs with m{sub χ} = 4 GeV/c{sup 2} is 1.6 x 10{sup -39} cm{sup 2}, which is an improvement of a factor of seven with respect to the BDT-based analysis. For WIMP masses above 15 GeV/c{sup 2} the exclusion limits found with both analyses are in good agreement. (orig.)

  3. A precision search for WIMPs with charged cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reinert, Annika; Winkler, Martin Wolfgang

    2018-01-01

    AMS-02 has reached the sensitivity to probe canonical thermal WIMPs by their annihilation into antiprotons. Due to the high precision of the data, uncertainties in the astrophysical background have become the most limiting factor for indirect dark matter detection. In this work we systematically quantify and—where possible—reduce uncertainties in the antiproton background. We constrain the propagation of charged cosmic rays through the combination of antiproton, B/C and positron data. Cross section uncertainties are determined from a wide collection of accelerator data and are—for the first time ever—fully taken into account. This allows us to robustly constrain even subdominant dark matter signals through their spectral properties. For a standard NFW dark matter profile we are able to exclude thermal WIMPs with masses up to 570 GeV which annihilate into bottom quarks. While we confirm a reported excess compatible with dark matter of mass around 80 GeV, its local (global) significance only reaches 2.2 σ (1.1 σ) in our analysis.

  4. The phenomenology of superWIMP dark matter scenariow with long-lived sleptons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heisig, Jan

    2013-08-15

    We study the phenomenology of a supersymmetric scenario where the next-to-lightest superparticle (NLSP) is the charged slepton and is long-lived due to a lightest superparticle (LSP) which is a super weakly interacting massive particle (superWIMP), like the gravitino. This has far-reaching consequences for the cosmological history of the universe on the one hand and for the signatures at colliders on the other hand. We do not assume any high-scale model for the mediation of SUSY breaking to the MSSM but work along the lines of simplified models and the phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM). In a first part, we investigate the LHC sensitivity and its dependence on the superparticle spectrum with an emphasis on strong production and decay. We formulate appropriate simplified models that allow to conservatively approximate the signal efficiencies of arbitrary spectra from a small number of decisive parameters. We found that the application of simplified models is especially suitable in the considered scenario. Devising cuts that yield a large detection efficiency in the whole parameter space, we determine the discovery and exclusion potential of the LHC. We found that the prominent signature of long-lived sleptons allows to extract more robust constraints on the parameter space than for the widely studied case of a neutralino LSP scenario. In addition, we study the implications of the recent LHC results on the cosmological validity of a superWIMP Dark Matter scenario with a long-lived stau NLSP. Therefore, we work in a pMSSM framework and perform a Monte Carlo scan over the pMSSM parameter space highlighting the implications of a Higgs around 125 GeV and the nullsearches for heavy stable charged particles at the 7 and 8TeV LHC. Further, we consider bounds from MSSM Higgs searches, from flavor and precision observables as well as from the theoretical requirement of vacuum stability. In particular we work out the impact on the allowed range for the stau yield after freeze

  5. The phenomenology of superWIMP dark matter scenariow with long-lived sleptons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heisig, Jan

    2013-08-01

    We study the phenomenology of a supersymmetric scenario where the next-to-lightest superparticle (NLSP) is the charged slepton and is long-lived due to a lightest superparticle (LSP) which is a super weakly interacting massive particle (superWIMP), like the gravitino. This has far-reaching consequences for the cosmological history of the universe on the one hand and for the signatures at colliders on the other hand. We do not assume any high-scale model for the mediation of SUSY breaking to the MSSM but work along the lines of simplified models and the phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM). In a first part, we investigate the LHC sensitivity and its dependence on the superparticle spectrum with an emphasis on strong production and decay. We formulate appropriate simplified models that allow to conservatively approximate the signal efficiencies of arbitrary spectra from a small number of decisive parameters. We found that the application of simplified models is especially suitable in the considered scenario. Devising cuts that yield a large detection efficiency in the whole parameter space, we determine the discovery and exclusion potential of the LHC. We found that the prominent signature of long-lived sleptons allows to extract more robust constraints on the parameter space than for the widely studied case of a neutralino LSP scenario. In addition, we study the implications of the recent LHC results on the cosmological validity of a superWIMP Dark Matter scenario with a long-lived stau NLSP. Therefore, we work in a pMSSM framework and perform a Monte Carlo scan over the pMSSM parameter space highlighting the implications of a Higgs around 125 GeV and the nullsearches for heavy stable charged particles at the 7 and 8TeV LHC. Further, we consider bounds from MSSM Higgs searches, from flavor and precision observables as well as from the theoretical requirement of vacuum stability. In particular we work out the impact on the allowed range for the stau yield after freeze

  6. The dark side of the universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freese, Katherine

    2006-01-01

    I will begin by reviewing the evidence for dark matter in the Universe, as well as the candidates for dark matter. At most 20% of the dark matter in galaxies can be in the form of MACHOs (Massive Compact Halo Objects); the remainder appears to be some unknown exotic component. The most sensible candidates from the point of view of particle physics are axions and WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), where WIMPs may be supersymmetric particles. Three recent claims of possible detection of WIMP dark matter are tantalizing and will be discussed: the DAMA annual modulation, the HEAT positron excess, and gamma-rays from the Galactic Center. In addition, I will discuss the dependence of signals in detectors on the mass distribution in the Galactic Halo. In particular, the Sagittarius stream can be a smoking gun for WIMP detection

  7. The Diurnal Variation of the Wimp Detection Event Rates in Directional Experiments

    CERN Document Server

    Vergados, J D

    2009-01-01

    The recent WMAP data have confirmed that exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) dominate in the flat Universe. Modern particle theories naturally provide viable cold dark matter candidates with masses in the GeV-TeV region. Supersymmetry provides the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP), theories in extra dimensions supply the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle (LKP) etc. The nature of dark matter can only be unraveled only by its direct detection in the laboratory. All such candidates will be called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). In any case the direct dark matter search, which amounts to detecting the recoiling nucleus, following its collision with WIMP, is central to particle physics and cosmology. In this work we briefly review the theoretical elements relevant to the direct dark matter detection experiments, paying particular attention to directional experiments. i.e experiments in which, not only the energy but the direction of the recoiling nucleus is ob...

  8. Neutrinos from WIMP annihilations obtained using a full three-flavor Monte Carlo approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blennow, Mattias; Ohlsson, Tommy; Edsjö, Joakim

    2008-01-01

    Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are one of the main candidates for making up the dark matter in the Universe. If these particles make up the dark matter, then they can be captured by the Sun or the Earth, sink to the respective cores, annihilate, and produce neutrinos. Thus, these neutrinos can be a striking dark matter signature at neutrino telescopes looking towards the Sun and/or the Earth. Here, we improve previous analyses on computing the neutrino yields from WIMP annihilations in several respects. We include neutrino oscillations in a full three-flavor framework as well as all effects from neutrino interactions on the way through the Sun (absorption, energy loss, and regeneration from tau decays). In addition, we study the effects of non-zero values of the mixing angle θ 13 as well as the normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchies. Our study is performed in an event-based setting which makes these results very useful both for theoretical analyses and for building a neutrino telescope Monte Carlo code. All our results for the neutrino yields, as well as our Monte Carlo code, are publicly available. We find that the yield of muon-type neutrinos from WIMP annihilations in the Sun is enhanced or suppressed, depending on the dominant WIMP annihilation channel. This effect is due to an effective flavor mixing caused by neutrino oscillations. For WIMP annihilations inside the Earth, the distance from source to detector is too small to allow for any significant amount of oscillations at the neutrino energies relevant for neutrino telescopes

  9. Gravitationally induced particle production and its impact on the WIMP abundance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Baranov

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available A large set of independent astronomical observations have provided a strong evidence for nonbaryonic dark matter in the Universe. One of the most investigated candidates is an unknown long-lived Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP which was in thermal equilibrium with the primeval plasma. Here we investigate the WIMP abundance based on the relativistic kinetic treatment for gravitationally induced particle production recently proposed in the literature (Lima and Baranov, 2014 [16]. The new evolution equation is deduced and solved both numerically and through a semi-analytical approach. The predictions of the WIMP observables are discussed and compared with the ones obtained in the standard approach.

  10. Dark matter detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forster, G.

    1995-01-01

    A fundamental question of astrophysics and cosmology is the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical observations show clearly the existence of some kind of dark matter, though they cannot yet reveal its nature. Dark matter can consist of baryonic particles, or of other (known or unknown) elementary particles. Baryonic dark matter probably exists in the form of dust, gas, or small stars. Other elementary particles constituting the dark matter can possibly be measured in terrestrial experiments. Possibilities for dark matter particles are neutrinos, axions and weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). While a direct detection of relic neutrinos seems at the moment impossible, there are experiments looking for baryonic dark matter in the form of Massive Compact Halo Objects, and for particle dark matter in the form of axions and WIMPS. (orig.)

  11. Detailed Characterization of Nuclear Recoil Pulse Shape Discrimination in the DarkSide-50 Direct Dark Matter Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Edkins, Erin Elisabeth [Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States)

    2017-05-01

    recoils from ScENE and an AmBe calibration sour! ce. The combined acceptance as defined by ScENE and the \\textit{in-situ} AmBe calibration were used to establish the best WIMP exclusion limit on an argon target. Unfortunately, radioactive sources used for the calibration of DarkSide-50 are universally accompanied by gamma decays, which obscure the low energy region where most WIMP interactions are expected to occur and seem to make continuing dependence on an external measurement such as ScENE inevitable. However, this work presents a novel method of nuclear recoil calibration employing event selection, unique to the design of DarkSide-50, which produces a nearly pure sample of nuclear recoils. Further, it describes the execution of a neutron calibration campaign, from planning to analysis, which yielded a valuable data set for defining the acceptance region. Together with the event selection techniques, this allows for the definition of the acceptance region independent of ScENE values. Two analytical models of the $f_{90 }$ distribution are described and their results for nuclear recoils are compared. Finally, a detailed study of integrated noise in nuclear and electron recoil

  12. WIMP detection and slow ion dynamics in carbon nanotube arrays

    CERN Document Server

    Cavoto, G.; Cocina, F.; Ferretti, J.; Polosa, A.D.

    2016-06-24

    Large arrays of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), open at one end, could be used as target material for the directional detection of weakly interacting dark matter particles (WIMPs). As a result of a WIMP elastic scattering on a CNT, a carbon ion might be injected in the body of the array and propagate through multiple collisions within the lattice. The ion may eventually emerge from the surface with open end CNTs, provided that its longitudinal momentum is large enough to compensate energy losses and its transverse momentum approaches the channeling conditions in a single CNT. Therefore, the angle formed between the WIMP wind apparent orientation and the direction of parallel carbon nanotube axes must be properly chosen. We focus on very low ion recoil kinetic energies, related to low mass WIMPs (~ 10 GeV) where most of the existing experiments have low sensitivity. Relying on some exact results on two-dimensional lattices of circular obstacles, we study the low energy ion motion in the transverse plane with ...

  13. Constraining Asymmetric Dark Matter through observations of compact stars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kouvaris, Christoforos; Tinyakov, Peter

    2011-01-01

    We put constraints on asymmetric dark matter candidates with spin-dependent interactions based on the simple existence of white dwarfs and neutron stars in globular clusters. For a wide range of the parameters (WIMP mass and WIMP-nucleon cross section), WIMPs can be trapped in progenitors in large...... numbers and once the original star collapses to a white dwarf or a neutron star, these WIMPs might self-gravitate and eventually collapse forming a mini-black hole that eventually destroys the star. We impose constraints competitive to direct dark matter search experiments, for WIMPs with masses down...

  14. 5th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs (PATRAS 2009). Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jaeckel, Joerg; Lindner, Axel; Redondo, Javier [eds.

    2010-06-15

    The following topics were dealt with: Direct searches for dark matter, indirect searches for WIMPS, photon generation and laser polarization experiments, direct axion signals, theoretic WISP developments. (HSI)

  15. 5th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs (PATRAS 2009). Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jaeckel, Joerg; Lindner, Axel; Redondo, Javier

    2010-06-01

    The following topics were dealt with: Direct searches for dark matter, indirect searches for WIMPS, photon generation and laser polarization experiments, direct axion signals, theoretic WISP developments. (HSI)

  16. Inelastic dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, David; Weiner, Neal

    2001-01-01

    Many observations suggest that much of the matter of the universe is nonbaryonic. Recently, the DAMA NaI dark matter direct detection experiment reported an annual modulation in their event rate consistent with a WIMP relic. However, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) Ge experiment excludes most of the region preferred by DAMA. We demonstrate that if the dark matter can only scatter by making a transition to a slightly heavier state (Δm∼100 keV), the experiments are no longer in conflict. Moreover, differences in the energy spectrum of nuclear recoil events could distinguish such a scenario from the standard WIMP scenario. Finally, we discuss the sneutrino as a candidate for inelastic dark matter in supersymmetric theories

  17. Thermalization time scales for WIMP capture by the Sun in effective theories

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Widmark, A., E-mail: axel.widmark@fysik.su.se [The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)

    2017-05-01

    I study the process of dark matter capture by the Sun, under the assumption of a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), in the framework of non-relativistic effective field theory. Hypothetically, WIMPs from the galactic halo can scatter against atomic nuclei in the solar interior, settle to thermal equilibrium with the solar core and annihilate to produce an observable flux of neutrinos. In particular, I examine the thermalization process using Monte-Carlo integration of WIMP trajectories. I consider WIMPs in a mass range of 10–1000 GeV and WIMP-nucleon interaction operators with different dependence on spin and transferred momentum. I find that the density profiles of captured WIMPs are in accordance with a thermal profile described by the Sun's gravitational potential and core temperature. Depending on the operator that governs the interaction, the majority of the thermalization time is spent in either the solar interior or exterior. If normalizing the WIMP-nuclei interaction strength to a specific capture rate, I find that the thermalization time differs at most by 3 orders of magnitude between operators. In most cases of interest, the thermalization time is many orders of magnitude shorter than the age of the solar system.

  18. Indirect detection of dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pieri, L.

    2008-01-01

    In the Cold Dark Matter scenario, the Dark Matter particle candidate may be a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (Wimp). Annihilation of two Wimps in local or cosmological structures would result in the production of a number of standard model particles such as photons, leptons and baryons which could be observed with the presently available or future experiments such as the Pamela or Glast satellites or the Cherenkov Telescopes. In this work we review the status-of-the-art of the theoretical and phenomenological studies about the possibility of indirect detection of signals coming from Wimp annihilation.

  19. Limits on Self-Interacting Dark Matter from Neutron Stars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kouvaris, C.

    2012-01-01

    We impose new severe constraints on the self-interactions of fermionic asymmetric dark matter based on observations of nearby old neutron stars. Weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) self-interactions mediated by Yukawa-type interactions can lower significantly the number of WIMPs necessary...... for gravitational collapse of the WIMP population accumulated in a neutron star. Even nearby neutron stars located at regions of low dark matter density can accrete a sufficient number of WIMPs that can potentially collapse, form a mini black hole, and destroy the host star. Based on this, we derive constraints...

  20. Low-Mass Dark Matter Search Results and Radiogenic Backgrounds for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pepin, Mark David [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

    2016-12-01

    An ever-increasing amount of evidence suggests that approximately one quarter of the energy in the universe is composed of some non-luminous, and hitherto unknown, “dark matter”. Physicists from numerous sub-fields have been working on and trying to solve the dark matter problem for decades. The common solution is the existence of some new type of elementary particle with particular focus on weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). One avenue of dark matter research is to create an extremely sensitive particle detector with the goal of directly observing the interaction of WIMPs with standard matter. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) project operated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory from 2003–2015, under the CDMS II and SuperCDMS Soudan experiments, with this goal of directly detecting dark matter. The next installation, SuperCDMS SNOLAB, is planned for near-future operation. The reason the dark-matter particle has not yet been observed in traditional particle physics experiments is that it must have very small cross sections, thus making such interactions extremely rare. In order to identify these rare events in the presence of a background of known particles and interactions, direct detection experiments employ various types and amounts of shielding to prevent known backgrounds from reaching the instrumented detector(s). CDMS utilized various gamma and neutron shielding to such an effect that the shielding, and other experimental components, themselves were sources of background. These radiogenic backgrounds must be understood to have confidence in any WIMP-search result. For this dissertation, radiogenic background studies and estimates were performed for various analyses covering CDMS II, SuperCDMS Soudan, and SuperCDMS SNOLAB. Lower-mass dark matter t c2 inent in the past few years. The CDMS detectors can be operated in an alternative, higher-biased, mode v to decrease their energy thresholds and correspondingly increase their sensitivity

  1. Track theory and nuclear photographic emulsions for Dark Matter searches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ditlov, V.A.

    2013-01-01

    This work is devoted to the analysis of possibilities of nuclear emulsions for Dark Matter search, particles of which can produce slow recoil-nuclei. Tracks of such recoil-nuclei in developed nuclear emulsion consist from several emulsion grains. The analysis was carried out with Monte-Carlo calculations made on the basis of the Track Theory and the various factors influencing Dark Matter particles registration efficiency were investigated. Problems, which should be solved for optimal utilization of nuclear emulsions in Dark Matter search, were formulated. B ody - Highlights: ► Specific features of Dark Matter Search in nuclear photographic emulsions. ► Track theory for WIMP search in nuclear emulsions. ► Primary efficiency for single WIMP registration. ► Properties of primary WIMP registration efficiency. ► Primary registration efficiency of WIMP flow

  2. Limits on dark matter annihilation in the sun using the ANTARES neutrino telescope

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Adrián-Martínez

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available A search for muon neutrinos originating from dark matter annihilations in the Sun is performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. In order to obtain the best possible sensitivities to dark matter signals, an optimisation of the event selection criteria is performed taking into account the background of atmospheric muons, atmospheric neutrinos and the energy spectra of the expected neutrino signals. No significant excess over the background is observed and 90% C.L. upper limits on the neutrino flux, the spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections are derived for WIMP masses ranging from 50 GeV to 5 TeV for the annihilation channels WIMP+WIMP→bb¯,W+W− and τ+τ−.

  3. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnes, P.D., Jr. [UC, Berkeley

    1996-01-01

    A substantial body of observational evidence indicates that the universe contains much more material than we observe directly via photons of any wavelength. The existence of this "missing" mass or "dark" matter is inferred by its gravitational effects on the luminous material. Accepting the existence of dark matter has profoundly shaken our understanding in most areas of cosmology. If it exists at the lowest densities measured it is hard to understand in detail the creation of the elements in the early universe. If moderate density values are correct, then we have trouble understanding how the universe came to have so much structure on large scales. If the largest densities are correct, then dark matter is not ordinary matter, but must be something exotic like a new fundamental particle. We would like to measure the properties of the dark matter directly. Supposing that the dark matter consists of a WIMP, that was in thermal equilibrium in the early universe, we have built an experiment to detect dark matter directly by elastic scattering with germanium or silicon nuclei. Our detectors are large (~ 200 g) calorimeters that can discriminate between interactions with the electrons, due to background photons and beta particles, and interactions with the nuclei, due to WIMPs and background neutrons. The detectors operate at low temperatures (~ 20 mK) in a specially constructed cryostat. To reduce the rate of background events to a manageable level, the detectors and cryostat have been constructed out of selected materials and properly shielded. This dissertation discusses the properties of the hypothetical WIMPs, the detectors, cryostat, and shielding system, and finally, the analysis methods.new fundamental particle, a

  4. Signal modulation in cold-dark-matter detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freese, K.; Frieman, J.; Gould, A.

    1988-01-01

    If weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP's) are the dark matter in the galactic halo, they may be detected in low-background ionization detectors now operating or with low-temperature devices under development. In detecting WIMP's of low mass or WIMP's with spin-dependent nuclear interactions (e.g., photinos), a principal technical difficulty appears to be achieving very low thresholds (approx. < keV) in large (∼ kg) detectors with low background noise. We present an analytic treatment of WIMP detection and show that the seasonal modulation of the signal can be used to detect WIMP's even at low-signal-to-background levels and thus without the necessity of going to very-low-energy thresholds. As a result, the prospects for detecting a variety of cold-dark-matter candidates may be closer at hand than previously thought. We discuss in detail the detector characteristics required for a number of WIMP candidates, and carefully work out expected event rates for several present and proposed detectors

  5. Direct dark matter detection with the DarkSide-50 experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pagani, Luca [Univ. of Genoa (Italy)

    2017-01-01

    The existence of dark matter is known because of its gravitational effects, and although its nature remains undisclosed, there is a growing indication that the galactic halo could be permeated by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with mass of the order of $100$\\,GeV/c$^2$ and coupling with ordinary matter at or below the weak scale. In this context, DarkSide-50 aims to direct observe WIMP-nucleon collisions in a liquid argon dual phase time-projection chamber located deep underground at Gran Sasso National Laboratory, in Italy. In this work a re-analysis of the data that led to the best limit on WIMP-nucleon cross section with an argon target is done. As starting point of the new approach, the energy reconstruction of events is considered: a new energy variable is developed where anti-correlation between ionization and scintillation produced by an interaction is taken into account. As first result, a better energy resolution is achieved. In this new energy framewor k, access is granted to micro-physics parameters fundamental to argon scintillation such as the recombination and quenching as a function of the energy. The improved knowledge of recombination and quenching allows to develop a new model for distinguish between events possibly due to WIMPs and backgrounds. In light of the new model, the final result of this work is a more stringent limit on spin independent WIMP-nucleon cross section with an argon target. This work was supervised by Marco Pallavicini and was completed in collaboration with members of the DarkSide collaboration.

  6. Two-singlet model for light cold dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abada, Abdessamad; Ghaffor, Djamal; Nasri, Salah

    2011-01-01

    We extend the standard model by adding two gauge-singlet Z 2 -symmetric scalar fields that interact with visible matter only through the Higgs particle. One is a stable dark matter WIMP, and the other one undergoes a spontaneous breaking of the symmetry that opens new channels for the dark matter annihilation, hence lowering the mass of the WIMP. We study the effects of the observed dark matter relic abundance on the WIMP annihilation cross section and find that in most regions of the parameters' space, light dark matter is viable. We also compare the elastic-scattering cross section of our dark matter candidate off a nucleus with existing (CDMSII and XENON100) and projected (SuperCDMS and XENON1T) experimental exclusion bounds. We find that most of the allowed mass range for light dark matter will be probed by the projected sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment.

  7. The DarkSide experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bottino, B.; Aalseth, C.E.; Acconcia, G.

    2017-01-01

    DarkSide is a dark matter direct search experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). DarkSide is based on the detection of rare nuclear recoils possibly induced by hypothetical dark matter particles, which are supposed to be neutral, massive (m > 10 GeV) and weakly interactive (Wimp). The dark matter detector is a two-phase time projection chamber (TPC) filled with ultra-pure liquid argon. The TPC is placed inside a muon and a neutron active vetoes to suppress the background. Using argon as active target has many advantages, the key features are the strong discriminant power between nuclear and electron recoils, the spatial reconstruction and easy scalability to multi-tons size. At the moment DarkSide-50 is filled with ultra-pure argon, extracted from underground sources, and from April 2015 it is taking data in its final configuration. When combined with the preceding search with an atmospheric argon target, it is possible to set a 90% CL upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section of 2.0×10"−"44 cm"2 for a WIMP mass of 100 GeV/c"2. The next phase of the experiment, DarkSide-20k, will be the construction of a new detector with an active mass of ∼ 20 tons.

  8. WIMP detection and slow ion dynamics in carbon nanotube arrays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cavoto, G.; Cirillo, E.N.M.; Cocina, F.; Ferretti, J.; Polosa, A.D.

    2016-01-01

    Large arrays of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), open at one end, could be used as target material for the directional detection of weakly interacting dark matter particles (WIMPs). As a result of a WIMP elastic scattering on a CNT, a carbon ion might be injected in the body of the array and propagate through multiple collisions within the lattice. The ion may eventually emerge from the surface with open end CNTs, provided that its longitudinal momentum is large enough to compensate energy losses and its transverse momentum approaches the channeling conditions in a single CNT. Therefore, the angle formed between the WIMP wind apparent orientation and the direction of parallel carbon nanotube axes must be properly chosen. We focus on very low ion recoil kinetic energies, related to low mass WIMPs (∼ 11 GeV) where most of the existing experiments have low sensitivity. Relying on some exact results on two-dimensional lattices of circular obstacles, we study the low energy ion motion in the transverse plane with respect to CNT directions. New constraints are obtained on how to devise the CNT arrays to maximize the target channeling efficiency. (orig.)

  9. WIMP detection and slow ion dynamics in carbon nanotube arrays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cavoto, G. [INFN Sezione di Roma, Rome (Italy); Cirillo, E.N.M. [Sapienza Universita di Roma, Dipartimento SBAI, Rome (Italy); Cocina, F. [Sapienza Universita di Roma, Dipartimento di Fisica, Rome (Italy); Ferretti, J. [Sapienza Universita di Roma, Dipartimento di Fisica (Italy); INFN Sezione di Roma, Rome (Italy); Polosa, A.D. [Sapienza Universita di Roma, Dipartimento di Fisica (Italy); CERN, Theory Division, Geneva (Switzerland); INFN Sezione di Roma, Rome (Italy)

    2016-06-15

    Large arrays of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), open at one end, could be used as target material for the directional detection of weakly interacting dark matter particles (WIMPs). As a result of a WIMP elastic scattering on a CNT, a carbon ion might be injected in the body of the array and propagate through multiple collisions within the lattice. The ion may eventually emerge from the surface with open end CNTs, provided that its longitudinal momentum is large enough to compensate energy losses and its transverse momentum approaches the channeling conditions in a single CNT. Therefore, the angle formed between the WIMP wind apparent orientation and the direction of parallel carbon nanotube axes must be properly chosen. We focus on very low ion recoil kinetic energies, related to low mass WIMPs (∼ 11 GeV) where most of the existing experiments have low sensitivity. Relying on some exact results on two-dimensional lattices of circular obstacles, we study the low energy ion motion in the transverse plane with respect to CNT directions. New constraints are obtained on how to devise the CNT arrays to maximize the target channeling efficiency. (orig.)

  10. WIMP detection and slow ion dynamics in carbon nanotube arrays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavoto, G; Cirillo, E N M; Cocina, F; Ferretti, J; Polosa, A D

    2016-01-01

    Large arrays of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), open at one end, could be used as target material for the directional detection of weakly interacting dark matter particles (WIMPs). As a result of a WIMP elastic scattering on a CNT, a carbon ion might be injected in the body of the array and propagate through multiple collisions within the lattice. The ion may eventually emerge from the surface with open end CNTs, provided that its longitudinal momentum is large enough to compensate energy losses and its transverse momentum approaches the channeling conditions in a single CNT. Therefore, the angle formed between the WIMP wind apparent orientation and the direction of parallel carbon nanotube axes must be properly chosen. We focus on very low ion recoil kinetic energies, related to low mass WIMPs ([Formula: see text] GeV) where most of the existing experiments have low sensitivity. Relying on some exact results on two-dimensional lattices of circular obstacles, we study the low energy ion motion in the transverse plane with respect to CNT directions. New constraints are obtained on how to devise the CNT arrays to maximize the target channeling efficiency.

  11. Power corrections to the universal heavy WIMP-nucleon cross section

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Chien-Yi; Hill, Richard J.; Solon, Mikhail P.; Wijangco, Alexander M.

    2018-06-01

    WIMP-nucleon scattering is analyzed at order $1/M$ in Heavy WIMP Effective Theory. The $1/M$ power corrections, where $M\\gg m_W$ is the WIMP mass, distinguish between different underlying UV models with the same universal limit and their impact on direct detection rates can be enhanced relative to naive expectations due to generic amplitude-level cancellations at leading order. The necessary one- and two-loop matching calculations onto the low-energy effective theory for WIMP interactions with Standard Model quarks and gluons are performed for the case of an electroweak SU(2) triplet WIMP, considering both the cases of elementary fermions and composite scalars. The low-velocity WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section is evaluated and compared with current experimental limits and projected future sensitivities. Our results provide the most robust prediction for electroweak triplet Majorana fermion dark matter direct detection rates; for this case, a cancellation between two sources of power corrections yields a small total $1/M$ correction, and a total cross section close to the universal limit for $M \\gtrsim {\\rm few} \\times 100\\,{\\rm GeV}$. For the SU(2) composite scalar, the $1/M$ corrections introduce dependence on underlying strong dynamics. Using a leading chiral logarithm evaluation, the total $1/M$ correction has a larger magnitude and uncertainty than in the fermionic case, with a sign that further suppresses the total cross section. These examples provide definite targets for future direct detection experiments and motivate large scale detectors capable of probing to the neutrino floor in the TeV mass regime.

  12. Power corrections to the universal heavy WIMP-nucleon cross section

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chien-Yi; Hill, Richard J.; Solon, Mikhail P.; Wijangco, Alexander M.

    2018-06-01

    WIMP-nucleon scattering is analyzed at order 1 / M in Heavy WIMP Effective Theory. The 1 / M power corrections, where M ≫mW is the WIMP mass, distinguish between different underlying UV models with the same universal limit and their impact on direct detection rates can be enhanced relative to naive expectations due to generic amplitude-level cancellations at leading order. The necessary one- and two-loop matching calculations onto the low-energy effective theory for WIMP interactions with Standard Model quarks and gluons are performed for the case of an electroweak SU(2) triplet WIMP, considering both the cases of elementary fermions and composite scalars. The low-velocity WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section is evaluated and compared with current experimental limits and projected future sensitivities. Our results provide the most robust prediction for electroweak triplet Majorana fermion dark matter direct detection rates; for this case, a cancellation between two sources of power corrections yields a small total 1 / M correction, and a total cross section close to the universal limit for M ≳ few × 100GeV. For the SU(2) composite scalar, the 1 / M corrections introduce dependence on underlying strong dynamics. Using a leading chiral logarithm evaluation, the total 1 / M correction has a larger magnitude and uncertainty than in the fermionic case, with a sign that further suppresses the total cross section. These examples provide definite targets for future direct detection experiments and motivate large scale detectors capable of probing to the neutrino floor in the TeV mass regime.

  13. Low-Mass Dark Matter Search with the DarkSide-50 Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Agnes, P.; et al.

    2018-02-20

    We present the results of a search for dark matter WIMPs in the mass range below 20 GeV/c^2 using a target of low-radioactivity argon. The data were obtained using the DarkSide-50 apparatus at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). The analysis is based on the ionization signal, for which the DarkSide-50 time projection chamber is fully efficient at 0.1 keVee. The observed rate in the detector at 0.5 keVee is about 1.5 events/keVee/kg/day and is almost entirely accounted for by known background sources. We obtain a 90% C.L. exclusion limit above 1.8 GeV/c^2 for the spin-independent cross section of dark matter WIMPs on nucleons, extending the exclusion region for dark matter below previous limits in the range 1.8-6 GeV/c^2.

  14. The Dark Side of Neutron Stars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kouvaris, Christoforos

    2013-01-01

    We review severe constraints on asymmetric bosonic dark matter based on observations of old neutron stars. Under certain conditions, dark matter particles in the form of asymmetric bosonic WIMPs can be eectively trapped onto nearby neutron stars, where they can rapidly thermalize and concentrate...... in the core of the star. If some conditions are met, the WIMP population can collapse gravitationally and form a black hole that can eventually destroy the star. Based on the existence of old nearby neutron stars, we can exclude certain classes of dark matter candidates....

  15. Dark Matter in the Universe

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    The question “What is the Universe made of?” is the longest outstanding problem in all of physics. Ordinary atoms only constitute 5% of the total, while the rest is of unknown composition. Already in 1933 Fritz Zwicky observed that the rapid motions of objects within clusters of galaxies were unexplained by the gravitation pull of luminous matter, and he postulated the existence of Dunkle Materie, or dark matter. A variety of dark matter candidates exist, including new fundamental particles already postulated in particle theories: axions and WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). Over the past 25 years, there has been a three pronged approach to WIMP detection: creating them at particle accelerators; searched for detection of astrophysical WIMPs scattering off of nuclei in underground detectors; and “indirect detection” of WIMP annihilation products (neutrinos, positrons, or photons). As yet the LHC has only placed bounds rather than finding discovery. For 13 years the DAMA experiment has proc...

  16. Halo-independent determination of the unmodulated WIMP signal in DAMA: the isotropic case

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gondolo, Paolo [Department of Physics, University of Utah, 115 South 1400 East #201, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0830 (United States); Scopel, Stefano, E-mail: paolo.gondolo@utah.edu, E-mail: scopel@sogang.ac.kr [Department of Physics, Sogang University, Seoul 121-742 (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-09-01

    We present a halo-independent determination of the unmodulated signal corresponding to the DAMA modulation if interpreted as due to dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). First we show how a modulated signal gives information on the WIMP velocity distribution function in the Galactic rest frame from which the unmodulated signal descends. Then we describe a mathematically-sound profile likelihood analysis in which the likelihood is profiled over a continuum of nuisance parameters (namely, the WIMP velocity distribution). As a first application of the method, which is very general and valid for any class of velocity distributions, we restrict the analysis to velocity distributions that are isotropic in the Galactic frame. In this way we obtain halo-independent maximum-likelihood estimates and confidence intervals for the DAMA unmodulated signal. We find that the estimated unmodulated signal is in line with expectations for a WIMP-induced modulation and is compatible with the DAMA background+signal rate. Specifically, for the isotropic case we find that the modulated amplitude ranges between a few percent and about 25% of the unmodulated amplitude, depending on the WIMP mass.

  17. The waning of the WIMP? A review of models, searches, and constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arcadi, Giorgio; Dutra, Maíra; Ghosh, Pradipta; Lindner, Manfred; Mambrini, Yann; Pierre, Mathias; Profumo, Stefano; Queiroz, Farinaldo S.

    2018-03-01

    Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are among the best-motivated dark matter candidates. No conclusive signal, despite an extensive search program that combines, often in a complementary way, direct, indirect, and collider probes, has been detected so far. This situation might change in near future due to the advent of one/multi-TON Direct Detection experiments. We thus, find it timely to provide a review of the WIMP paradigm with focus on a few models which can be probed at best by these facilities. Collider and Indirect Detection, nevertheless, will not be neglected when they represent a complementary probe.

  18. Superweakly interacting massive particle dark matter signals from the early Universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Jonathan L.; Rajaraman, Arvind; Takayama, Fumihiro

    2003-01-01

    Cold dark matter may be made of superweakly interacting massive particles, super-WIMP's, that naturally inherit the desired relic density from late decays of metastable WIMP's. Well-motivated examples are weak-scale gravitinos in supergravity and Kaluza-Klein gravitons from extra dimensions. These particles are impossible to detect in all dark matter experiments. We find, however, that super-WIMP dark matter may be discovered through cosmological signatures from the early Universe. In particular, super-WIMP dark matter has observable consequences for big bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and may explain the observed underabundance of 7 Li without upsetting the concordance between deuterium and CMB baryometers. We discuss the implications for future probes of CMB blackbody distortions and collider searches for new particles. In the course of this study, we also present a model-independent analysis of entropy production from late-decaying particles in light of Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe data

  19. Indirect detection of dark matter with γ rays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funk, Stefan

    2015-10-06

    The details of what constitutes the majority of the mass that makes up dark matter in the Universe remains one of the prime puzzles of cosmology and particle physics today-80 y after the first observational indications. Today, it is widely accepted that dark matter exists and that it is very likely composed of elementary particles, which are weakly interacting and massive [weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs)]. As important as dark matter is in our understanding of cosmology, the detection of these particles has thus far been elusive. Their primary properties such as mass and interaction cross sections are still unknown. Indirect detection searches for the products of WIMP annihilation or decay. This is generally done through observations of γ-ray photons or cosmic rays. Instruments such as the Fermi large-area telescope, high-energy stereoscopic system, major atmospheric gamma-ray imaging Cherenkov, and very energetic radiation imaging telescope array, combined with the future Cherenkov telescope array, will provide important complementarity to other search techniques. Given the expected sensitivities of all search techniques, we are at a stage where the WIMP scenario is facing stringent tests, and it can be expected that WIMPs will be either be detected or the scenario will be so severely constrained that it will have to be rethought. In this sense, we are on the threshold of discovery. In this article, I will give a general overview of the current status and future expectations for indirect searches of dark matter (WIMP) particles.

  20. Search for Dark Matter Satellites Using the FERMI-LAT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ackermann, M.; /DESY; Albert, A.; /Ohio State U.; Baldini, L.; /INFN, Pisa; Ballet, J.; /DAPNIA, Saclay; Barbiellini, G.; /INFN, Trieste /Trieste U.; Bastieri, D.; /INFN, Padua /Padua U.; Bechtol, K.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Bellazzini, R.; /INFN, Pisa; Blandford, R.D.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Bloom, E.D.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /SLAC; Bonamente, E.; /INFN, Perugia /Perugia U.; Borgland, A.W.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Bottacini, E.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Brandt, T.J.; /IRAP, Toulouse /Toulouse III U.; Bregeon, J.; /INFN, Pisa; Brigida, M.; /Bari U. /INFN, Bari; Bruel, P.; /Ecole Polytechnique; Buehler, R.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Burnett, T.H.; /Washington U., Seattle; Caliandro, G.A.; /ICE, Bellaterra; Cameron, R.A.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /IASF, Milan /IASF, Milan /DAPNIA, Saclay /INFN, Perugia /Perugia U. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /ASDC, Frascati /Perugia U. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Montpellier U. /Stockholm U. /Stockholm U., OKC /ASDC, Frascati /Bari U. /INFN, Bari /Naval Research Lab, Wash., D.C. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Montpellier U. /Bari U. /INFN, Bari /Ecole Polytechnique /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Hiroshima U. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Bari U. /INFN, Bari /INFN, Bari /INFN, Perugia /Perugia U. /Bari U. /INFN, Bari /Bari U. /INFN, Bari /Bologna Observ. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; /more authors..

    2012-08-16

    Numerical simulations based on the {Lambda}CDM model of cosmology predict a large number of as yet unobserved Galactic dark matter satellites. We report the results of a Large Area Telescope (LAT) search for these satellites via the {gamma}-ray emission expected from the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. Some dark matter satellites are expected to have hard {gamma}-ray spectra, finite angular extents, and a lack of counterparts at other wavelengths. We sought to identify LAT sources with these characteristics, focusing on {gamma}-ray spectra consistent with WIMP annihilation through the b{bar b} channel. We found no viable dark matter satellite candidates using one year of data, and we present a framework for interpreting this result in the context of numerical simulations to constrain the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section for a conventional 100 GeV WIMP annihilating through the b{bar b} channel.

  1. Search for Dark Matter Satellites Using the Fermi-Lat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ackermann, M.; Albert, A.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.; hide

    2012-01-01

    Numerical simulations based on the ACDM model of cosmology predict a large number of as yet unobserved Galactic dark matter satellites. We report the results of a Large Area Telescope (LAT) search for these satellites via the gamma-ray emission expected from the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. Some dark matter satellites are expected to have hard gamma-ray spectra, finite angular extents, and a lack of counterparts at other wavelengths. We sought to identify LAT sources with these characteristics, focusing on gamma-ray spectra consistent with WIMP annihilation through the bb(sup raised bar) channel. We found no viable dark matter satellite candidates using one year of data, and we present a framework for interpreting this result in the context of numerical simulations to constrain the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section for a conventional 100 Ge V WIMP annihilating through the bb(sup raised bar) channel.

  2. Revisiting the direct detection of dark matter in simplified models

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Tong

    2018-01-01

    In this work we numerically re-examine the loop-induced WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section for the simplified dark matter models and the constraint set by the latest direct detection experiment. We consider a fermion, scalar or vector dark matter component from five simplified models with leptophobic spin-0 mediators coupled only to Standard Model quarks and dark matter particles. The tree-level WIMP-nucleon cross sections in these models are all momentum-suppressed. We calculate the non-s...

  3. Search for Dark Matter Interactions using Ionization Yield in Liquid Xenon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uvarov, Sergey

    Cosmological observations overwhelmingly support the existence of dark matter which constitutes 87% of the universe's total mass. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are a prime candidate for dark matter, and the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment aims to a direct-detection of a WIMP-nucleon interaction. The LUX detector is a dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber housed 4,850 feet underground at Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. We present the ionization-only analysis of the LUX 2013 WIMP search data. In the 1.04 x 104 kg-days exposure, thirty events were observed out of the 24.8 expected from radioactive backgrounds. We employ a cut-and-count method to set a 1-sided 90% C.L. upper limit for spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections. A zero charge yield for nuclear-recoils below 0.7 keV is included upper limit calculation. This ionization-only analysis excludes an unexplored region of WIMP-nucleon cross-section for low-mass WIMPs achieving 1.56 x 10-43 cm2 WIMP-nucleon cross-section exclusion for a 5.1 GeV/ c2 WIMP.

  4. DarkSide-20k: A 20 tonne two-phase LAr TPC for direct dark matter detection at LNGS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aalseth, C. E.; Acerbi, F.; Agnes, P.; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Alexander, T.; Alici, A.; Alton, A. K.; Antonioli, P.; Arcelli, S.; Ardito, R.; Arnquist, I. J.; Asner, D. M.; Ave, M.; Back, H. O.; Barrado Olmedo, A. I.; Batignani, G.; Bertoldo, E.; Bettarini, S.; Bisogni, M. G.; Bocci, V.; Bondar, A.; Bonfini, G.; Bonivento, W.; Bossa, M.; Bottino, B.; Boulay, M.; Bunker, R.; Bussino, S.; Buzulutskov, A.; Cadeddu, M.; Cadoni, M.; Caminata, A.; Canci, N.; Candela, A.; Cantini, C.; Caravati, M.; Cariello, M.; Carlini, M.; Carpinelli, M.; Castellani, A.; Catalanotti, S.; Cataudella, V.; Cavalcante, P.; Cavuoti, S.; Cereseto, R.; Chepurnov, A.; Cicalò, C.; Cifarelli, L.; Citterio, M.; Cocco, A. G.; Colocci, M.; Corgiolu, S.; Covone, G.; Crivelli, P.; D'Antone, I.; D'Incecco, M.; D'Urso, D.; Da Rocha Rolo, M. D.; Daniel, M.; Davini, S.; de Candia, A.; De Cecco, S.; De Deo, M.; De Filippis, G.; De Guido, G.; De Rosa, G.; Dellacasa, G.; Della Valle, M.; Demontis, P.; Derbin, A.; Devoto, A.; Di Eusanio, F.; Di Pietro, G.; Dionisi, C.; Dolgov, A.; Dormia, I.; Dussoni, S.; Empl, A.; Fernandez Diaz, M.; Ferri, A.; Filip, C.; Fiorillo, G.; Fomenko, K.; Franco, D.; Froudakis, G. E.; Gabriele, F.; Gabrieli, A.; Galbiati, C.; Garcia Abia, P.; Gendotti, A.; Ghisi, A.; Giagu, S.; Giampa, P.; Gibertoni, G.; Giganti, C.; Giorgi, M. A.; Giovanetti, G. K.; Gligan, M. L.; Gola, A.; Gorchakov, O.; Goretti, A. M.; Granato, F.; Grassi, M.; Grate, J. W.; Grigoriev, G. Y.; Gromov, M.; Guan, M.; Guerra, M. B. B.; Guerzoni, M.; Gulino, M.; Haaland, R. K.; Hallin, A.; Harrop, B.; Hoppe, E. W.; Horikawa, S.; Hosseini, B.; Hughes, D.; Humble, P.; Hungerford, E. V.; Ianni, An.; Jillings, C.; Johnson, T. N.; Keeter, K.; Kendziora, C. L.; Kim, S.; Koh, G.; Korablev, D.; Korga, G.; Kubankin, A.; Kuss, M.; Kuźniak, M.; La Commara, M.; Lehnert, B.; Li, X.; Lissia, M.; Lodi, G. U.; Loer, B.; Longo, G.; Loverre, P.; Lussana, R.; Luzzi, L.; Ma, Y.; Machado, A. A.; Machulin, I. N.; Mandarano, A.; Mapelli, L.; Marcante, M.; Margotti, A.; Mari, S. M.; Mariani, M.; Maricic, J.; Martoff, C. J.; Mascia, M.; Mayer, M.; McDonald, A. B.; Messina, A.; Meyers, P. D.; Milincic, R.; Moggi, A.; Moioli, S.; Monroe, J.; Monte, A.; Morrocchi, M.; Mount, B. J.; Mu, W.; Muratova, V. N.; Murphy, S.; Musico, P.; Nania, R.; Navrer Agasson, A.; Nikulin, I.; Nosov, V.; Nozdrina, A. O.; Nurakhov, N. N.; Oleinik, A.; Oleynikov, V.; Orsini, M.; Ortica, F.; Pagani, L.; Pallavicini, M.; Palmas, S.; Pandola, L.; Pantic, E.; Paoloni, E.; Paternoster, G.; Pavletcov, V.; Pazzona, F.; Peeters, S.; Pelczar, K.; Pellegrini, L. A.; Pelliccia, N.; Perotti, F.; Perruzza, R.; Pesudo, V.; Piemonte, C.; Pilo, F.; Pocar, A.; Pollmann, T.; Portaluppi, D.; Pugachev, D. A.; Qian, H.; Radics, B.; Raffaelli, F.; Ragusa, F.; Razeti, M.; Razeto, A.; Regazzoni, V.; Regenfus, C.; Reinhold, B.; Renshaw, A. L.; Rescigno, M.; Retière, F.; Riffard, Q.; Rivetti, A.; Rizzardini, S.; Romani, A.; Romero, L.; Rossi, B.; Rossi, N.; Rubbia, A.; Sablone, D.; Salatino, P.; Samoylov, O.; Sánchez García, E.; Sands, W.; Sanfilippo, S.; Sant, M.; Santorelli, R.; Savarese, C.; Scapparone, E.; Schlitzer, B.; Scioli, G.; Segreto, E.; Seifert, A.; Semenov, D. A.; Shchagin, A.; Shekhtman, L.; Shemyakina, E.; Sheshukov, A.; Simeone, M.; Singh, P. N.; Skensved, P.; Skorokhvatov, M. D.; Smirnov, O.; Sobrero, G.; Sokolov, A.; Sotnikov, A.; Speziale, F.; Stainforth, R.; Stanford, C.; Suffritti, G. B.; Suvorov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Testera, G.; Tonazzo, A.; Tosi, A.; Trinchese, P.; Unzhakov, E. V.; Vacca, A.; Vázquez-Jáuregui, E.; Verducci, M.; Viant, T.; Villa, F.; Vishneva, A.; Vogelaar, B.; Wada, M.; Wahl, J.; Walding, J.; Wang, H.; Wang, Y.; Watson, A. W.; Westerdale, S.; Williams, R.; Wojcik, M. M.; Wu, S.; Xiang, X.; Xiao, X.; Yang, C.; Ye, Z.; Yllera de Llano, A.; Zappa, F.; Zappalà, G.; Zhu, C.; Zichichi, A.; Zullo, M.; Zullo, A.; Zuzel, G.

    2018-03-01

    Building on the successful experience in operating the DarkSide-50 detector, the DarkSide Collaboration is going to construct DarkSide-20k, a direct WIMP search detector using a two-phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) with an active (fiducial) mass of 23 t (20 t). This paper describes a preliminary design for the experiment, in which the DarkSide-20k LAr TPC is deployed within a shield/veto with a spherical Liquid Scintillator Veto (LSV) inside a cylindrical Water Cherenkov Veto (WCV). This preliminary design provides a baseline for the experiment to achieve its physics goals, while further development work will lead to the final optimization of the detector parameters and an eventual technical design. Operation of DarkSide-50 demonstrated a major reduction in the dominant 39Ar background when using argon extracted from an underground source, before applying pulse shape analysis. Data from DarkSide-50, in combination with MC simulation and analytical modeling, shows that a rejection factor for discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils of >3 × 109 is achievable. This, along with the use of the veto system and utilizing silicon photomultipliers in the LAr TPC, are the keys to unlocking the path to large LAr TPC detector masses, while maintaining an experiment in which less than < 0.1 events (other than ν-induced nuclear recoils) is expected to occur within the WIMP search region during the planned exposure. DarkSide-20k will have ultra-low backgrounds than can be measured in situ, giving sensitivity to WIMP-nucleon cross sections of 1.2 × 10^{-47} cm2 (1.1 × 10^{-46} cm2) for WIMPs of 1 TeV/c 2 (10 TeV/c 2) mass, to be achieved during a 5 yr run producing an exposure of 100 t yr free from any instrumental background.

  5. Phenomenological introduction to direct dark matter detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gondolo, P.

    1996-01-01

    The dark matter of our galactic halo may be constituted by elementary particles that interact weakly with with ordinary matter (WIMPs). In spite of the very low counting rates expected for these dark matter particle to scatter off nuclei in a laboratory detector, such direct WIMP searches are possible and are experimentally carried out at present. An introduction to the theoretical ingredients entering the counting rates predictions, together with a short discussion of the major theoretical uncertainties, is here presented. (author)

  6. Large-scale nuclear structure calculations for spin-dependent WIMP scattering with chiral effective field theory currents

    OpenAIRE

    Klos, P.; Menéndez, J.; Gazit, D.; Schwenk, A.

    2013-01-01

    We perform state-of-the-art large-scale shell-model calculations of the structure factors for elastic spin-dependent WIMP scattering off 129,131Xe, 127I, 73Ge, 19F, 23Na, 27Al, and 29Si. This comprehensive survey covers the non-zero-spin nuclei relevant to direct dark matter detection. We include a pedagogical presentation of the formalism necessary to describe elastic and inelastic WIMP-nucleus scattering. The valence spaces and nuclear interactions employed have been previously used in nucl...

  7. Geneva University: Dark matter Search with the CDMS experiment

    CERN Multimedia

    Université de Genève

    2011-01-01

    Geneva University Physics Department 24, quai Ernest-Ansermet CH-1211 Geneva 4 Tel: (022) 379 62 73 Fax: (022) 379 69 92   Wednesday 21 September 2011 PARTICLE PHYSICS SEMINAR at 17.00 hrs – Stückelberg Auditorium “ Dark matter Search with the CDMS experiment ” Par Dr. Sebastian Arrenberg, Université de Zürich The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment (CDMS) employs a total of 30 germanium and silicon detectors at the Soudan Underground Laboratory to detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) via their scattering from the target nuclei. Previous CDMS results, released in December 2009, set the world leading limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section above WIMP masses of ~50 GeV/c2 assuming elastic scattering.  In a subsequent analysis we investigated the inelastic dark matter scenario which was proposed to reconcile the disagreement between the results of DAMA/LIBRA and other existing dark matter searc...

  8. Limits on the Spin-Dependent WIMP-Nucleon Cross Sections from the First Science Run of the ZEPLIN-III Experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lebedenko, V. N.; Bewick, A.; Currie, A.; Davidge, D.; Dawson, J.; Horn, M.; Howard, A. S.; Jones, W. G.; Joshi, M.; Liubarsky, I.; Lyons, K.; Quenby, J. J.; Sumner, T. J.; Thorne, C.; Walker, R. J.; Araujo, H. M.; Edwards, B.; Barnes, E. J.; Ghag, C.; Murphy, A. StJ.

    2009-01-01

    We present new experimental constraints on the WIMP-nucleon spin-dependent elastic cross sections using data from the first science run of ZEPLIN-III, a two-phase xenon experiment searching for galactic dark matter weakly interacting massive particles based at the Boulby mine. Analysis of ∼450 kg·days fiducial exposure allow us to place a 90%-confidence upper limit on the pure WIMP-neutron cross section of σ n =1.9x10 -2 pb at 55 GeV/c 2 WIMP mass. Recent calculations of the nuclear spin structure based on the Bonn charge-dependent nucleon-nucleon potential were used for the odd-neutron isotopes 129 Xe and 131 Xe. These indicate that the sensitivity of xenon targets to the spin-dependent WIMP-proton interaction could be much lower than implied by previous calculations, whereas the WIMP-neutron sensitivity is impaired only by a factor of ∼2.

  9. Dark matter spin determination with directional direct detection experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catena, Riccardo; Conrad, Jan; Döring, Christian; Ferella, Alfredo Davide; Krauss, Martin B.

    2018-01-01

    If dark matter has spin 0, only two WIMP-nucleon interaction operators can arise as leading operators from the nonrelativistic reduction of renormalizable single-mediator models for dark matter-quark interactions. Based on this crucial observation, we show that about 100 signal events at next generation directional detection experiments can be enough to enable a 2 σ rejection of the spin 0 dark matter hypothesis in favor of alternative hypotheses where the dark matter particle has spin 1 /2 or 1. In this context, directional sensitivity is crucial since anisotropy patterns in the sphere of nuclear recoil directions depend on the spin of the dark matter particle. For comparison, about 100 signal events are expected in a CF4 detector operating at a pressure of 30 torr with an exposure of approximately 26,000 cubic-meter-detector days for WIMPs of 100 GeV mass and a WIMP-fluorine scattering cross section of 0.25 pb. Comparable exposures require an array of cubic meter time projection chamber detectors.

  10. Decaying Dark Atom Constituents and Cosmic Positron Excess

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Belotsky, K.; Khlopov, M.; Kouvaris, C.

    2014-01-01

    We present a scenario where dark matter is in the form of dark atoms that can accommodate the experimentally observed excess of positrons in PAMELA and AMS-02 while being compatible with the constraints imposed on the gamma-ray ux from Fermi/LAT. This scenario assumes that the dominant component...... of dark matter is in the form of a bound state between a helium nucleus and a -2 particle and a small component is in the form of a WIMP-like dark atom compatible with direct searches in underground detectors. One of the constituents of this WIMP-like state is a +2 metastable particle with a mass of 1 Te...... baryons in the universe to be close to -3....

  11. Particle Dark Matter (1/4)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2011-01-01

    I review the phenomenology of particle dark matter, including the process of thermal freeze-out in the early universe, and the direct and indirect detection of WIMPs. I also describe some of the most popular particle candidates for dark matter and summarize the current status of the quest to discover dark matter's particle identity.

  12. Dark matter search

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernabei, R.

    2003-01-01

    Some general arguments on the particle Dark Matter search are addressed. The WIMP direct detection technique is mainly considered and recent results obtained by exploiting the annual modulation signature are summarized. (author)

  13. Dark matter search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernabei, R [Dipto. di Fisica, Universita di Roma ' Tor Vergata' and INFN, sez. Roma2, Rome (Italy)

    2003-08-15

    Some general arguments on the particle Dark Matter search are addressed. The WIMP direct detection technique is mainly considered and recent results obtained by exploiting the annual modulation signature are summarized. (author)

  14. The Electronics and Data Acquisition System of the DarkSide Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Agnes, P.; et al.

    2014-12-09

    It is generally inferred from astronomical measurements that Dark Matter (DM) comprises approximately 27\\% of the energy-density of the universe. If DM is a subatomic particle, a possible candidate is a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), and the DarkSide-50 (DS) experiment is a direct search for evidence of WIMP-nuclear collisions. DS is located underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy, and consists of three active, embedded components; an outer water veto (CTF), a liquid scintillator veto (LSV), and a liquid argon (LAr) time projection chamber (TPC). This paper describes the data acquisition and electronic systems of the DS detectors, designed to detect the residual ionization from such collisions.

  15. Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis to constrain dark matter properties with directional detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Billard, J.; Mayet, F.; Santos, D.

    2011-01-01

    Directional detection is a promising dark matter search strategy. Indeed, weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-induced recoils would present a direction dependence toward the Cygnus constellation, while background-induced recoils exhibit an isotropic distribution in the Galactic rest frame. Taking advantage of these characteristic features, and even in the presence of a sizeable background, it has recently been shown that data from forthcoming directional detectors could lead either to a competitive exclusion or to a conclusive discovery, depending on the value of the WIMP-nucleon cross section. However, it is possible to further exploit these upcoming data by using the strong dependence of the WIMP signal with: the WIMP mass and the local WIMP velocity distribution. Using a Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis of recoil events, we show for the first time the possibility to constrain the unknown WIMP parameters, both from particle physics (mass and cross section) and Galactic halo (velocity dispersion along the three axis), leading to an identification of non-baryonic dark matter.

  16. Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Agnese, R.; Anderson, A. J.; Aralis, T.; Aramaki, T.; Arnquist, I. J.; Baker, W.; Balakishiyeva, D.; Barker, D.; Basu Thakur, R.; Bauer, D. A.; Binder, T.; Bowles, M. A.; Brink, P. L.; Bunker, R.; Cabrera, B.; Caldwell, D. O.; Calkins, R.; Cartaro, C.; Cerdeño, D. G.; Chang, Y.; Chagani, H.; Chen, Y.; Cooley, J.; Cornell, B.; Cushman, P.; Daal, M.; Di Stefano, P. C. F.; Doughty, T.; Esteban, L.; Fascione, E.; Figueroa-Feliciano, E.; Fritts, M.; Gerbier, G.; Ghaith, M.; Godfrey, G. L.; Golwala, S. R.; Hall, J.; Harris, H. R.; Hong, Z.; Hoppe, E. W.; Hsu, L.; Huber, M. E.; Iyer, V.; Jardin, D.; Jastram, A.; Jena, C.; Kelsey, M. H.; Kennedy, A.; Kubik, A.; Kurinsky, N. A.; Leder, A.; Loer, B.; Lopez Asamar, E.; Lukens, P.; MacDonell, D.; Mahapatra, R.; Mandic, V.; Mast, N.; Miller, E. H.; Mirabolfathi, N.; Moffatt, R. A.; Mohanty, B.; Morales Mendoza, J. D.; Nelson, J.; Orrell, J. L.; Oser, S. M.; Page, K.; Page, W. A.; Partridge, R.; Pepin, M.; Peñalver Martinez, M.; Phipps, A.; Poudel, S.; Pyle, M.; Qiu, H.; Rau, W.; Redl, P.; Reisetter, A.; Reynolds, T.; Roberts, A.; Robinson, A. E.; Rogers, H. E.; Saab, T.; Sadoulet, B.; Sander, J.; Schneck, K.; Schnee, R. W.; Scorza, S.; Senapati, K.; Serfass, B.; Speller, D.; Stein, M.; Street, J.; Tanaka, H. A.; Toback, D.; Underwood, R.; Villano, A. N.; von Krosigk, B.; Welliver, B.; Wilson, J. S.; Wilson, M. J.; Wright, D. H.; Yellin, S.; Yen, J. J.; Young, B. A.; Zhang, X.; Zhao, X.

    2018-01-01

    The SuperCDMS experiment is designed to directly detect WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) that may constitute the dark matter in our galaxy. During its operation at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, germanium detectors were run in the CDMSlite (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search low ionization threshold experiment) mode to gather data sets with sensitivity specifically for WIMPs with masses ${<}10$ GeV/$c^2$. In this mode, a large detector-bias voltage is applied to amplify the phonon signals produced by drifting charges. This paper presents studies of the experimental noise and its effect on the achievable energy threshold, which is demonstrated to be as low as 56 eV$_{\\text{ee}}$ (electron equivalent energy). The detector biasing configuration is described in detail, with analysis corrections for voltage variations to the level of a few percent. Detailed studies of the electric-field geometry, and the resulting successful development of a fiducial parameter, eliminate poorly measured events, yielding an energy resolution ranging from ${\\sim}$9 eV$_{\\text{ee}}$ at 0 keV to 101 eV$_{\\text{ee}}$ at ${\\sim}$10 keV$_{\\text{ee}}$. New results are derived for astrophysical uncertainties relevant to the WIMP-search limits, specifically examining how they are affected by variations in the most probable WIMP velocity and the galactic escape velocity. These variations become more important for WIMP masses below 10 GeV/$c^2$. Finally, new limits on spin-dependent low-mass WIMP-nucleon interactions are derived, with new parameter space excluded for WIMP masses ${\\lesssim}$3 GeV/$c^2$.

  17. Can tonne-scale direct detection experiments discover nuclear dark matter?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Butcher, Alistair; Kirk, Russell; Monroe, Jocelyn; West, Stephen M., E-mail: Alistair.Butcher.2010@live.rhul.ac.uk, E-mail: Russell.Kirk.2008@live.rhul.ac.uk, E-mail: Jocelyn.Monroe@rhul.ac.uk, E-mail: Stephen.West@rhul.ac.uk [Department of Physics, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX (United Kingdom)

    2017-10-01

    Models of nuclear dark matter propose that the dark sector contains large composite states consisting of dark nucleons in analogy to Standard Model nuclei. We examine the direct detection phenomenology of a particular class of nuclear dark matter model at the current generation of tonne-scale liquid noble experiments, in particular DEAP-3600 and XENON1T. In our chosen nuclear dark matter scenario distinctive features arise in the recoil energy spectra due to the non-point-like nature of the composite dark matter state. We calculate the number of events required to distinguish these spectra from those of a standard point-like WIMP state with a decaying exponential recoil spectrum. In the most favourable regions of nuclear dark matter parameter space, we find that a few tens of events are needed to distinguish nuclear dark matter from WIMPs at the 3 σ level in a single experiment. Given the total exposure time of DEAP-3600 and XENON1T we find that at best a 2 σ distinction is possible by these experiments individually, while 3 σ sensitivity is reached for a range of parameters by the combination of the two experiments. We show that future upgrades of these experiments have potential to distinguish a large range of nuclear dark matter models from that of a WIMP at greater than 3 σ .

  18. Can tonne-scale direct detection experiments discover nuclear dark matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Butcher, Alistair; Kirk, Russell; Monroe, Jocelyn; West, Stephen M.

    2017-01-01

    Models of nuclear dark matter propose that the dark sector contains large composite states consisting of dark nucleons in analogy to Standard Model nuclei. We examine the direct detection phenomenology of a particular class of nuclear dark matter model at the current generation of tonne-scale liquid noble experiments, in particular DEAP-3600 and XENON1T. In our chosen nuclear dark matter scenario distinctive features arise in the recoil energy spectra due to the non-point-like nature of the composite dark matter state. We calculate the number of events required to distinguish these spectra from those of a standard point-like WIMP state with a decaying exponential recoil spectrum. In the most favourable regions of nuclear dark matter parameter space, we find that a few tens of events are needed to distinguish nuclear dark matter from WIMPs at the 3 σ level in a single experiment. Given the total exposure time of DEAP-3600 and XENON1T we find that at best a 2 σ distinction is possible by these experiments individually, while 3 σ sensitivity is reached for a range of parameters by the combination of the two experiments. We show that future upgrades of these experiments have potential to distinguish a large range of nuclear dark matter models from that of a WIMP at greater than 3 σ .

  19. First Dark Matter Search Results from the XENON1T Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aprile, E.; Aalbers, J.; Agostini, F.; Alfonsi, M.; Amaro, F. D.; Anthony, M.; Arneodo, F.; Barrow, P.; Baudis, L.; Bauermeister, B.; Benabderrahmane, M. L.; Berger, T.; Breur, P. A.; Brown, A.; Brown, A.; Brown, E.; Bruenner, S.; Bruno, G.; Budnik, R.; Bütikofer, L.; Calvén, J.; Cardoso, J. M. R.; Cervantes, M.; Cichon, D.; Coderre, D.; Colijn, A. P.; Conrad, J.; Cussonneau, J. P.; Decowski, M. P.; de Perio, P.; di Gangi, P.; di Giovanni, A.; Diglio, S.; Eurin, G.; Fei, J.; Ferella, A. D.; Fieguth, A.; Fulgione, W.; Gallo Rosso, A.; Galloway, M.; Gao, F.; Garbini, M.; Gardner, R.; Geis, C.; Goetzke, L. W.; Grandi, L.; Greene, Z.; Grignon, C.; Hasterok, C.; Hogenbirk, E.; Howlett, J.; Itay, R.; Kaminsky, B.; Kazama, S.; Kessler, G.; Kish, A.; Landsman, H.; Lang, R. F.; Lellouch, D.; Levinson, L.; Lin, Q.; Lindemann, S.; Lindner, M.; Lombardi, F.; Lopes, J. A. M.; Manfredini, A.; Mariş, I.; Marrodán Undagoitia, T.; Masbou, J.; Massoli, F. V.; Masson, D.; Mayani, D.; Messina, M.; Micheneau, K.; Molinario, A.; Morâ, K.; Murra, M.; Naganoma, J.; Ni, K.; Oberlack, U.; Pakarha, P.; Pelssers, B.; Persiani, R.; Piastra, F.; Pienaar, J.; Pizzella, V.; Piro, M.-C.; Plante, G.; Priel, N.; Rauch, L.; Reichard, S.; Reuter, C.; Riedel, B.; Rizzo, A.; Rosendahl, S.; Rupp, N.; Saldanha, R.; Dos Santos, J. M. F.; Sartorelli, G.; Scheibelhut, M.; Schindler, S.; Schreiner, J.; Schumann, M.; Scotto Lavina, L.; Selvi, M.; Shagin, P.; Shockley, E.; Silva, M.; Simgen, H.; Sivers, M. V.; Stein, A.; Thapa, S.; Thers, D.; Tiseni, A.; Trinchero, G.; Tunnell, C.; Vargas, M.; Upole, N.; Wang, H.; Wang, Z.; Wei, Y.; Weinheimer, C.; Wulf, J.; Ye, J.; Zhang, Y.; Zhu, T.; Xenon Collaboration

    2017-11-01

    We report the first dark matter search results from XENON1T, a ˜2000 -kg -target-mass dual-phase (liquid-gas) xenon time projection chamber in operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy and the first ton-scale detector of this kind. The blinded search used 34.2 live days of data acquired between November 2016 and January 2017. Inside the (1042 ±12 )-kg fiducial mass and in the [5 ,40 ] keVnr energy range of interest for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches, the electronic recoil background was (1.93 ±0.25 )×10-4 events /(kg ×day ×keVee) , the lowest ever achieved in such a dark matter detector. A profile likelihood analysis shows that the data are consistent with the background-only hypothesis. We derive the most stringent exclusion limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section for WIMP masses above 10 GeV /c2 , with a minimum of 7.7 ×10-47 cm2 for 35 -GeV /c2 WIMPs at 90% C.L.

  20. TREX-DM: a low-background Micromegas-based TPC for low-mass WIMP detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Iguaz, F.J.; Garza, J.G.; Castel, J.F.; Cebrian, S.; Dafni, T.; Garcia, J.A.; Irastorza, I.G.; Lagraba, A.; Luzon, G.; Peiro, A. [Universidad de Zaragoza, Grupo de Fisica Nuclear y Astroparticulas, Zaragoza (Spain); Aznar, F. [Universidad de Zaragoza, Grupo de Fisica Nuclear y Astroparticulas, Zaragoza (Spain); Universidad de Zaragoza, Centro Universitario de la Defensa, Zaragoza (Spain)

    2016-10-15

    If Dark Matter is made of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with masses below ∝20 GeV, the corresponding nuclear recoils in mainstream WIMP experiments are of energies too close, or below, the experimental threshold. Gas Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) can be operated with a variety of target elements, offer good tracking capabilities and, on account of the amplification in gas, very low thresholds are achievable. Recent advances in electronics and in novel radiopure TPC readouts, especially micro-mesh gas structure (Micromegas), are improving the scalability and low-background prospects of gaseous TPCs. Here we present TREX-DM, a prototype to test the concept of a Micromegas-based TPC to search for low-mass WIMPs. The detector is designed to host an active mass of ∝0.300 kg of Ar at 10 bar, or alternatively ∝0.160 kg of Ne at 10 bar, with an energy threshold below 0.4 keVee, and is fully built with radiopure materials. We will describe the detector in detail, the results from the commissioning phase on surface, as well as a preliminary background model. The anticipated sensitivity of this technique may go beyond current experimental limits for WIMPs of masses of 2-8 GeV. (orig.)

  1. A Search for WIMP Dark Matter Using an Optimized Chi-square Technique on the Final Data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment (CDMS II)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Manungu Kiveni, Joseph [Syracuse Univ., NY (United States)

    2012-12-01

    This dissertation describes the results of a WIMP search using CDMS II data sets accumulated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. Results from the original analysis of these data were published in 2009; two events were observed in the signal region with an expected leakage of 0.9 events. Further investigation revealed an issue with the ionization-pulse reconstruction algorithm leading to a software upgrade and a subsequent reanalysis of the data. As part of the reanalysis, I performed an advanced discrimination technique to better distinguish (potential) signal events from backgrounds using a 5-dimensional chi-square method. This dataanalysis technique combines the event information recorded for each WIMP-search event to derive a backgrounddiscrimination parameter capable of reducing the expected background to less than one event, while maintaining high efficiency for signal events. Furthermore, optimizing the cut positions of this 5-dimensional chi-square parameter for the 14 viable germanium detectors yields an improved expected sensitivity to WIMP interactions relative to previous CDMS results. This dissertation describes my improved (and optimized) discrimination technique and the results obtained from a blind application to the reanalyzed CDMS II WIMP-search data.

  2. A Low-Threshold Analysis of Data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bunker, Raymond [Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

    2011-12-01

    Although dark matter appears to constitute over 80% of the matter in the Universe, its composition is a mystery. Astrophysical observations suggest that the luminous portions of the Galaxy are embedded in a halo of darkmatter particles. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are the most studied class of dark-matter candidates and arise naturally within the context of many weak-scale supersymmetric theories. Direct-detection experiments like the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) strive to discern the kinetic energy of recoiling nuclei resulting from WIMP interactions with terrestrial matter. This is a considerable challenge in which the low (expected) rate of WIMP interactions must be distinguished from an overwhelming rate due to known types of radiation. An incontrovertible positive detection has remained elusive. However, a few experiments have recorded data that appear consistent with a low-mass WIMP. This thesis describes an attempt to probe the favored parameter space. To increase sensitivity to low-mass WIMPs, a low-threshold technique with improved sensitivity to small energy depositions is applied to CDMS shallowsite data. Four germanium and two silicon detectors were operated between December 2001 and June 2002, yielding 118 days of exposure. By sacrificing some of the CDMS detectors’ ability to discriminate signal from background, energy thresholds of ~1 and ~2 keV were achieved for three of the germanium and both silicon detectors, respectively. A large number of WIMP candidate events are observed, most of which can be accounted for by misidentification of background sources. No conclusive evidence for a low-mass WIMP signal is found. The observed event rates are used to set upper limits on the WIMPnucleon scattering cross section as a function of WIMP mass. Interesting parameter space is excluded for WIMPs with masses below ~9GeV/c2. Under standard assumptions, the parameter space favored by interpretations of other experiments

  3. Status and low background considerations for the CRESST dark matter search

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buehler, M.; Zerle, L.; Proebst, F.; Rulofs, A.; Schanda, U.; Seidel, W.; Absmaier, C.; Booth, N.E.; Bucci, C.; Cooper, S.; Feilitzsch, F. v.; Ferger, P.; Forster, G.; Gabutti, A.; Hoess, C.; Hoehne, J.; Igalson, J.; Kellner, E.; Koch, M.; Loidl, M.; Meier, O.; Nucciotti, A.; Nagel, U.; Putte, M.J.J. v.d.; Salmon, G.L.; Sisti, M.; Stodolsky, L.; Stolovich, A.

    1996-01-01

    We are preparing the CRESST experiment to search for dark matter WIMPs using cryogenic detectors with superconducting phase transition thermometers. In the first stage we plan to use four 250 g sapphire detectors with thresholds of 0.5 keV and resolutions of 0.2 keV at 1 keV. This will provide sensitivity to WIMP masses below 10 GeV, and is thus complementary to other dark matter searches. (orig.)

  4. The WIMP Paradigm: Current Status

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Jonathan

    2011-01-01

    The WIMP paradigm is the glue that joins together much of the high energy and cosmic frontiers. It postulates that most of the matter in the Universe is made of weakly-interacting massive particles, with implications for a broad range of experiments and observations. I will review the WIMP paradigm's underlying motivations, its current status in view of rapid experimental progress on several fronts, and recent theoretical variations on the WIMP paradigm theme.

  5. The search for Dark Matter in our galaxy; Suche nach Dunkler Materie in unserer Galaxie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eitel, K. [Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH Technik und Umwelt (Germany). Inst. fuer Kernphysik; Boer, W. de [Karlsruhe Univ. (T.H.) (Germany). Inst. fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik

    2007-07-01

    The matter content in galaxies like the Milky Way as well as in the entire Universe is dominated by Dark Matter (DM). The nature of this DM is one of the great enigmas of modern astroparticle physics. A promising candidate for this DM is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). DM can then be detected directly via rare elastic collisions of WIMPs with atomic nuclei in a well shielded underground detector or via the decay products from the annihilation of two WIMPs. Energetic gamma rays in cosmic radiation might therefore indicate an indirect signal of DM particles in our galaxy. We present two experimental approaches to search for WIMP Dark Matter. (orig.)

  6. GENIUS and the Genius TF: A New Observatory for WIMP Dark Matter and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

    OpenAIRE

    Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H. V.; Majorovits, B.

    2001-01-01

    The GENIUS proposal is described and some of it's physics potential is outlined. Also in the light of the contradictive results from the DAMA and CDMS experiments the Genius TF, a new experimental setup is proposed. The Genius TF could probe the DAMA evidence region using the WIMP nucleus recoil signal and WIMP annual modulation signature simultaneously. Besides that it can prove the long term feasibility of the detector technique to be implemented into the GENIUS setup and will in this sense...

  7. Dark matter search with the PICASSO experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Archambault, S.; Debris, F.; Giroux, G.; Jakson, C.M.; Kumaratunga, S.; Lafreniere, M.; Laurin, M.; Lessard, L.; Martin, J.-P.; Piro, M.-C.; Scallon, O.; Starinski, N.; Zacek, V.; Behnke, E.; Grace, E.; Bhattacharjee, P.; Bhattacharya, S.; Das, M.; Saha, S.; Seth, S.; Dai, X.; Davour, A.; Kamaha, A.; Levy, C.; Noble, A.J.; Xie, T.; Dhungana, N.; Farine, J.; Podviyanuk, R.; Wichoski, U.; Gagnebin, S.; Krauss, C.; MacDonald, R.P.; Marlisov, D.; Mitra, P.; Lawson, L.; Pospisil, S.; Stekl, I.

    2012-01-01

    A low background PICASSO experiment to search for dark matter is in progress at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (Canada) by using 10 detectors with total target mass of 0.72 kg of 19 F and exposure time of 114 kgd. Recoil energy thresholds are 1.7 keV which allows the sensitivity to interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with masses below 10 GeV/c 2 . No dark matter signal was found till now. The limits in the spin dependent sector were obtained for WIMP masses of 20 GeV/c 2 with a cross section on protons of σ p sd = 0.032 pb (90% C.L.), in the spin independent sector close to the low WIMP mass region of 7 GeV/c 2 with cross section on protons σ p Sl =1.41 · 10 -4 pb (90 % C.L.)

  8. Measurement of Nuclear Recoils in the CDMS II Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fallows, Scott Mathew [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

    2014-12-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is designed to directly detect elastic scatters of weakly-interacting massive dark matter particles (WIMPs), on target nuclei in semiconductor crystals composed of Si and Ge. These scatters would occur very rarely, in an overwhelming background composed primarily of electron recoils from photons and electrons, as well as a smaller but non-negligible background of WIMP-like nuclear recoils from neutrons. The CDMS II generation of detectors simultaneously measure ionization and athermal phonon signals from each scatter, allowing discrimination against virtually all electron recoils in the detector bulk. Pulse-shape timing analysis allows discrimination against nearly all remaining electron recoils taking place near detector surfaces. Along with carefully limited neutron backgrounds, this experimental program allowed for \\background- free" operation of CDMS II at Soudan, with less than one background event expected in each WIMP-search analysis. As a result, exclusionary upper-limits on WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section were placed over a wide range of candidate WIMP masses, ruling out large new regions of parameter space.

  9. Relating the baryon asymmetry to the thermal relic dark matter density

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, John

    2011-01-01

    We present a generic framework, baryomorphosis, which modifies the baryon asymmetry to be naturally of the order of a typical thermal relic weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) density. We consider a simple scalar-based model to show how this is possible. This model introduces a sector in which a large initial baryon asymmetry is injected into particles ('annihilons'), φ B , φ-circumflex B , of mass ∼100 GeV-1 TeV. φ B φ-circumflex B annihilations convert the initial φ B , φ-circumflex B asymmetry to a final asymmetry with a thermal relic WIMP-like density. This subsequently decays to a conventional baryon asymmetry whose magnitude is naturally related to the density of thermal relic WIMP dark matter. In this way the two coincidences of baryons and dark matter, i.e. why their densities are similar to each other and why they are both similar to a WIMP thermal relic density (the 'WIMP miracle'), may be understood. The model may be tested by the production of annihilons at colliders.

  10. Alphas and surface backgrounds in liquid argon dark matter detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanford, Christopher J.

    Current observations from astrophysics indicate the presence of dark matter, an invisible form of matter that makes up a large part of the mass of the universe. One of the leading theories for dark matter is that it is made up of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). One of the ways we try to discover WIMPs is by directly detecting their interaction with regular matter. This can be done using a scintillator such as liquid argon, which gives off light when a particle interacts with it. Liquid argon (LAr) is a favorable means of detecting WIMPs because it has an inherent property that enables a technique called pulse-shape discrimination (PSD). PSD can distinguish a WIMP signal from the constant background of electromagnetic signals from other sources, like gamma rays. However, there are other background signals that PSD is not as capable of rejecting, such as those caused by alpha decays on the interior surfaces of the detector. Radioactive elements that undergo alpha decay are introduced to detector surfaces during construction by radon gas that is naturally present in the air, as well as other means. When these surface isotopes undergo alpha decay, they can produce WIMP-like signals in the detector. We present here two LAr experiments. The first (RaDOSE) discovered a property of an organic compound that led to a technique for rejecting surface alpha decays in LAr detectors with high efficiency. The second (DarkSide-50) is a dark matter experiment operated at LNGS in Italy and is the work of an international collaboration. A detailed look is given into alpha decays and surface backgrounds present in the detector, and projections are made of alpha-related backgrounds for 500 live days of data. The technique developed with RaDOSE is applied to DarkSide-50 to determine its effectiveness in practice. It is projected to suppress the surface background in DarkSide-50 by more than a factor of 1000.

  11. Detailed Characterization of Nuclear Recoil Pulse Shape Discrimination in the Darkside-50 Direct Dark Matter Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludert, Erin Edkins

    ENE and an AmBe calibration source. The combined acceptance as defined by ScENE and the in-situ AmBe calibration were used to establish the best WIMP exclusion limit on an argon target. Unfortunately, radioactive sources used for the calibration of DarkSide-50 are universally accompanied by gamma decays, which obscure the low energy region where most WIMP interactions are expected to occur and seem to make continuing dependence on an external measurement such as ScENE inevitable. However, this work presents a novel method of nuclear recoil calibration employing event selection, unique to the design of DarkSide-50, which produces a nearly pure sample of nuclear recoils. Further, it describes the execution of a neutron calibration campaign, from planning to analysis, which yielded a valuable data set for defining the acceptance region. Together with the event selection techniques, this allows for the definition of the acceptance region independent of ScENE values. Two analytical models of the f90 distribution are described and their results for nuclear recoils are compared. Finally, a detailed study of integrated noise in nuclear and electron recoil events is presented, which demonstrates a difference between these classes of events for the first time.

  12. Peaked signals from dark matter velocity structures in direct detection experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Rafael F.; Weiner, Neal

    2010-06-01

    In direct dark matter detection experiments, conventional elastic scattering of WIMPs results in exponentially falling recoil spectra. In contrast, theories of WIMPs with excited states can lead to nuclear recoil spectra that peak at finite recoil energies ER. The peaks of such signals are typically fairly broad, with ΔER/Epeak ~ 1. We show that in the presence of dark matter structures with low velocity dispersion, such as streams or clumps, peaks from up-scattering can become extremely narrow with FWHM of a few keV only. This differs dramatically from the conventionally expected WIMP spectrum and would, once detected, open the possibility to measure the dark matter velocity structure with high accuracy. As an intriguing example, we confront the observed cluster of 3 events near 42 keV from the CRESST commissioning run with this scenario. Inelastic dark matter particles with a wide range of parameters are capable of producing such a narrow peak. We calculate the possible signals at other experiments, and find that such particles could also give rise to the signal at DAMA, although not from the same stream. Over some range of parameters, a signal would be visible at xenon experiments. We show that such dark matter peaks are a very clear signal and can be easily disentangled from potential backgrounds, both terrestrial or due to WIMP down-scattering, by an enhanced annual modulation in both the amplitude of the signal and its spectral shape.

  13. Peaked signals from dark matter velocity structures in direct detection experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lang, Rafael F.; Weiner, Neal

    2010-01-01

    In direct dark matter detection experiments, conventional elastic scattering of WIMPs results in exponentially falling recoil spectra. In contrast, theories of WIMPs with excited states can lead to nuclear recoil spectra that peak at finite recoil energies E R . The peaks of such signals are typically fairly broad, with ΔE R /E peak ∼ 1. We show that in the presence of dark matter structures with low velocity dispersion, such as streams or clumps, peaks from up-scattering can become extremely narrow with FWHM of a few keV only. This differs dramatically from the conventionally expected WIMP spectrum and would, once detected, open the possibility to measure the dark matter velocity structure with high accuracy. As an intriguing example, we confront the observed cluster of 3 events near 42 keV from the CRESST commissioning run with this scenario. Inelastic dark matter particles with a wide range of parameters are capable of producing such a narrow peak. We calculate the possible signals at other experiments, and find that such particles could also give rise to the signal at DAMA, although not from the same stream. Over some range of parameters, a signal would be visible at xenon experiments. We show that such dark matter peaks are a very clear signal and can be easily disentangled from potential backgrounds, both terrestrial or due to WIMP down-scattering, by an enhanced annual modulation in both the amplitude of the signal and its spectral shape

  14. First Dark Matter Search Results from the XENON1T Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aprile, E; Aalbers, J; Agostini, F; Alfonsi, M; Amaro, F D; Anthony, M; Arneodo, F; Barrow, P; Baudis, L; Bauermeister, B; Benabderrahmane, M L; Berger, T; Breur, P A; Brown, A; Brown, A; Brown, E; Bruenner, S; Bruno, G; Budnik, R; Bütikofer, L; Calvén, J; Cardoso, J M R; Cervantes, M; Cichon, D; Coderre, D; Colijn, A P; Conrad, J; Cussonneau, J P; Decowski, M P; de Perio, P; Di Gangi, P; Di Giovanni, A; Diglio, S; Eurin, G; Fei, J; Ferella, A D; Fieguth, A; Fulgione, W; Gallo Rosso, A; Galloway, M; Gao, F; Garbini, M; Gardner, R; Geis, C; Goetzke, L W; Grandi, L; Greene, Z; Grignon, C; Hasterok, C; Hogenbirk, E; Howlett, J; Itay, R; Kaminsky, B; Kazama, S; Kessler, G; Kish, A; Landsman, H; Lang, R F; Lellouch, D; Levinson, L; Lin, Q; Lindemann, S; Lindner, M; Lombardi, F; Lopes, J A M; Manfredini, A; Mariş, I; Marrodán Undagoitia, T; Masbou, J; Massoli, F V; Masson, D; Mayani, D; Messina, M; Micheneau, K; Molinario, A; Morå, K; Murra, M; Naganoma, J; Ni, K; Oberlack, U; Pakarha, P; Pelssers, B; Persiani, R; Piastra, F; Pienaar, J; Pizzella, V; Piro, M-C; Plante, G; Priel, N; Rauch, L; Reichard, S; Reuter, C; Riedel, B; Rizzo, A; Rosendahl, S; Rupp, N; Saldanha, R; Dos Santos, J M F; Sartorelli, G; Scheibelhut, M; Schindler, S; Schreiner, J; Schumann, M; Scotto Lavina, L; Selvi, M; Shagin, P; Shockley, E; Silva, M; Simgen, H; Sivers, M V; Stein, A; Thapa, S; Thers, D; Tiseni, A; Trinchero, G; Tunnell, C; Vargas, M; Upole, N; Wang, H; Wang, Z; Wei, Y; Weinheimer, C; Wulf, J; Ye, J; Zhang, Y; Zhu, T

    2017-11-03

    We report the first dark matter search results from XENON1T, a ∼2000-kg-target-mass dual-phase (liquid-gas) xenon time projection chamber in operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy and the first ton-scale detector of this kind. The blinded search used 34.2 live days of data acquired between November 2016 and January 2017. Inside the (1042±12)-kg fiducial mass and in the [5,40]  keV_{nr} energy range of interest for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches, the electronic recoil background was (1.93±0.25)×10^{-4}  events/(kg×day×keV_{ee}), the lowest ever achieved in such a dark matter detector. A profile likelihood analysis shows that the data are consistent with the background-only hypothesis. We derive the most stringent exclusion limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section for WIMP masses above 10  GeV/c^{2}, with a minimum of 7.7×10^{-47}  cm^{2} for 35-GeV/c^{2} WIMPs at 90% C.L.

  15. Operating the GridPix detector in dark matter search experiments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schön, R.; Alfonsi, M.; Hemink, G.; Decowski, M.P.; van Bakel, N.; van der Graaf, H.

    2013-01-01

    The DARWIN (dark matter WIMP search with noble liquids) design study aims to use liquid argon and liquid xenon targets to look for nuclear recoils due to weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). To measure the recoil energy in dual-phase noble gas time projection chambers the combination of

  16. Dark matter and its detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bi Xiaojun; Qin Bo

    2011-01-01

    We first explain the concept of dark matter,then review the history of its discovery and the evidence of its existence. We describe our understanding of the nature of dark matter particles, the popular dark matter models,and why the weakly interacting massive particles (called WIMPs) are the most attractive candidates for dark matter. Then we introduce the three methods of dark matter detection: colliders, direct detection and indirect detection. Finally, we review the recent development of dark matter detection, including the new results from DAMA, CoGent, PAMELA, ATIC and Fermi. (authors)

  17. Inelastic dark matter in light of DAMA/LIBRA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, Spencer; Weiner, Neal; Kribs, Graham D.; Tucker-Smith, David

    2009-01-01

    Inelastic dark matter, in which weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-nucleus scatterings occur through a transition to an excited WIMP state ∼100 keV above the ground state, provides a compelling explanation of the DAMA annual modulation signal. We demonstrate that the relative sensitivities of various dark matter direct detection experiments are modified such that the DAMA annual modulation signal can be reconciled with the absence of a reported signal at CDMS-Soudan, XENON10, ZEPLIN, CRESST, and KIMS for inelastic WIMPs with masses O(100 GeV). We review the status of these experiments, and make predictions for upcoming ones. In particular, we note that inelastic dark matter leads to highly suppressed signals at low energy, with most events typically occurring between 20 and 45 keV (unquenched) at xenon and iodine experiments, and generally no events at low (∼10 keV) energies. Suppressing the background in this high-energy region is essential to testing this scenario. The recent CRESST data suggest seven observed tungsten events, which is consistent with expectations from this model. If the tungsten signal persists at future CRESST runs, it would provide compelling evidence for inelastic dark matter, while its absence should exclude it.

  18. A search for low-mass dark matter with the cryogenic dark matter search and the development of highly multiplexed phonon-mediated particle detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moore, David Craig [California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

    2012-01-01

    A wide variety of astrophysical observations indicate that approximately 85% of the matter in the universe is nonbaryonic and nonluminous. Understanding the nature of this "dark matter" is one of the most important outstanding questions in cosmology. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are a leading candidate for dark matter since they would be thermally produced in the early universe in the correct abundance to account for the observed relic density of dark matter. If WIMPs account for the dark matter, then rare interactions from relic WIMPs should be observable in terrestrial detectors. Recently, unexplained excess events in the DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT, and CRESST-II experiments have been interpreted as evidence of scattering from WIMPs with masses ~10 GeV and spin-independent scattering cross sections of 10-41-10-40 cm2. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) attempts to identify WIMP interactions using an array of cryogenic germanium and silicon particle detectors located at the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. In this dissertation, data taken by CDMS II are reanalyzed using a 2 keV recoil energy threshold to increase the sensitivity to WIMPs with masses ~10 GeV. These data disfavor an explanation for the DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT, and CRESST-II results in terms of spin-independent elastic scattering of WIMPs with masses ≲12 GeV, under standard assumptions. At the time of publication, they provided the strongest constraints on spin-independent elastic scattering from 5-9 GeV, ruling out previously unexplored parameter space. To detect WIMPs or exclude the remaining parameter space favored by the most popular models will ultimately require detectors with target masses ≳1 ton, requiring an increase in mass by more than two orders of magnitude over CDMS II. For cryogenic detectors such as CDMS, scaling to such large target masses will require individual detector elements to be fabricated more quickly and cheaply, while

  19. Dark matter seen as a Bose-Einstein condensate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manzoni, Andre; Pires, Marcelo

    2011-01-01

    Full text: Astronomical observations of the stellar angular velocity in galaxies shows the general relativity theory, which considers that the usual matter changes the space-time, unable to describe the angular velocity to the peripheral stars. There are two possibilities to solve this problem, or the general relativity theory is not adequate to the phenomena or another type of matter must be considered in the composition of the galaxies. Many astrophysicists are in agreement considering another type of matter. This matter, called dark matter (DM), must interact very weakly with the barionic matter and, therefore, is invisible to direct observation. Some of them consider this dark matter made up of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which were not detected yet due to their very thin cross-section. A cloud of these particles is distributed around the galaxy under a low temperature and density. If we consider the cloud as a quantum gas, with the energies and the densities low enough to have binary interactions between particles, the gas can reach temperature condition to take a phase transition to the Bose-Einstein condensate where there are a constructive interference partner of these WIMPs. We performed an investigation about the dark matter being a Bose-Einstein condensate of WIMPs confined in itself gravitational potential. Taking the Thomas-Fermi approximation where the number of WIMPs is big enough to neglect the kinetic contribution in the total energy, we got the state equation of barotropic gas. Fitting this state equation with the data of rotational curves and density profiles taken from astronomical observations of galaxies, we estimated the mass and the scattering length of these WIMPs. (author)

  20. Directional Sensitivity in Light-Mass Dark Matter Searches with Single-Electron-Resolution Ionization Detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadribasic, Fedja; Mirabolfathi, Nader; Nordlund, Kai; Sand, Andrea E.; Holmström, Eero; Djurabekova, Flyura

    2018-03-01

    We propose a method using solid state detectors with directional sensitivity to dark matter interactions to detect low-mass weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) originating from galactic sources. In spite of a large body of literature for high-mass WIMP detectors with directional sensitivity, no available technique exists to cover WIMPs in the mass range semiconductor detectors allow for directional sensitivity once properly calibrated. We examine the commonly used semiconductor material response to these low-mass WIMP interactions.

  1. Probes for dark matter physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khlopov, Maxim Yu.

    The existence of cosmological dark matter is in the bedrock of the modern cosmology. The dark matter is assumed to be nonbaryonic and consists of new stable particles. Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) miracle appeals to search for neutral stable weakly interacting particles in underground experiments by their nuclear recoil and at colliders by missing energy and momentum, which they carry out. However, the lack of WIMP effects in their direct underground searches and at colliders can appeal to other forms of dark matter candidates. These candidates may be weakly interacting slim particles, superweakly interacting particles, or composite dark matter, in which new particles are bound. Their existence should lead to cosmological effects that can find probes in the astrophysical data. However, if composite dark matter contains stable electrically charged leptons and quarks bound by ordinary Coulomb interaction in elusive dark atoms, these charged constituents of dark atoms can be the subject of direct experimental test at the colliders. The models, predicting stable particles with charge ‑ 2 without stable particles with charges + 1 and ‑ 1 can avoid severe constraints on anomalous isotopes of light elements and provide solution for the puzzles of dark matter searches. In such models, the excessive ‑ 2 charged particles are bound with primordial helium in O-helium atoms, maintaining specific nuclear-interacting form of the dark matter. The successful development of composite dark matter scenarios appeals for experimental search for doubly charged constituents of dark atoms, making experimental search for exotic stable double charged particles experimentum crucis for dark atoms of composite dark matter.

  2. Warm and cold fermionic dark matter via freeze-in

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klasen, Michael; Yaguna, Carlos E.

    2013-01-01

    The freeze-in mechanism of dark matter production provides a simple and intriguing alternative to the WIMP paradigm. In this paper, we analyze whether freeze-in can be used to account for the dark matter in the so-called singlet fermionic model. In it, the SM is extended with only two additional fields, a singlet scalar that mixes with the Higgs boson, and the dark matter particle, a fermion assumed to be odd under a Z 2 symmetry. After numerically studying the generation of dark matter, we analyze the dependence of the relic density with respect to all the free parameters of the model. These results are then used to obtain the regions of the parameter space that are compatible with the dark matter constraint. We demonstrate that the observed dark matter abundance can be explained via freeze-in over a wide range of masses extending down to the keV range. As a result, warm and cold dark matter can be obtained in this model. It is also possible to have dark matter masses well above the unitarity bound for WIMPs

  3. Results from the LUX dark matter experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horn, Markus, E-mail: markus.horn@yale.edu [Yale University, Dept. of Physics, 217 Prospect St., New Haven CT 06511 (United States); Akerib, D.S [Case Western Reserve University, Dept. of Physics, 10900 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106 (United States); Araújo, H.M. [Imperial College London, High Energy Physics, Blackett Laboratory, London SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom); Bai, X. [South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 501 East St Joseph St., Rapid City SD 57701 (United States); Bailey, A.J. [Imperial College London, High Energy Physics, Blackett Laboratory, London SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom); Balajthy, J. [University of Maryland, Dept. of Physics, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Bernard, E. [Yale University, Dept. of Physics, 217 Prospect St., New Haven CT 06511 (United States); Bernstein, A. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave., Livermore, CA 94551 (United States); Bradley, A. [Case Western Reserve University, Dept. of Physics, 10900 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106 (United States); Byram, D. [University of South Dakota, Dept. of Physics, 414E Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069 (United States); Cahn, S.B. [Yale University, Dept. of Physics, 217 Prospect St., New Haven CT 06511 (United States); Carmona-Benitez, M.C. [University of California Santa Barbara, Dept. of Physics, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); Chan, C.; Chapman, J.J. [Brown University, Dept. of Physics, 182 Hope St., Providence, RI 02912 (United States); Chiller, A.A.; Chiller, C. [University of South Dakota, Dept. of Physics, 414E Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069 (United States); Currie, A. [Imperial College London, High Energy Physics, Blackett Laboratory, London SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom); Viveiros, L. de [LIP-Coimbra, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-516 Coimbra (Portugal); Dobi, A. [University of Maryland, Dept. of Physics, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); and others

    2015-06-01

    The LUX (Large Underground Xenon) experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter particles via their collisions with xenon nuclei. The 370 kg two-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber measures simultaneously the scintillation and ionization from interactions in the target. The ratio of these two signals provides very good discrimination between potential nuclear recoil and electronic recoil signals to search for WIMP-nucleon scattering. The LUX detector operates at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota, USA) since February 2013. First results were presented in late 2013 setting the world's most stringent limits on WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-sections over a wide range of WIMP masses. A 300 day run beginning in 2014 will further improve the sensitivity and new calibration techniques will reduce systematics for the WIMP signal search.

  4. Results from the LUX dark matter experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horn, Markus; Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Bradley, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Currie, A.; de Viveiros, L.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Flores, C.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C.; Hanhardt, M.; Haselschwardt, S.; Hertel, S. A.; Huang, D. Q.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Kazkaz, K.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lenardo, B.; Lesko, K. T.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Malling, D. C.; Mannino, R.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H.; Neves, F.; Ott, R. A.; Pangilinan, M.; Parker, P. D.; Pease, E. K.; Pech, K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Shutt, T.; Silva, C.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; O`Sullivan, K.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D.; Tennyson, B.; Tiedt, D. R.; Tripathi, M.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Walsh, N.; Webb, R.; White, J. T.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woods, M.; Zhang, C.; LUX Collaboration

    2015-06-01

    The LUX (Large Underground Xenon) experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter particles via their collisions with xenon nuclei. The 370 kg two-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber measures simultaneously the scintillation and ionization from interactions in the target. The ratio of these two signals provides very good discrimination between potential nuclear recoil and electronic recoil signals to search for WIMP-nucleon scattering. The LUX detector operates at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota, USA) since February 2013. First results were presented in late 2013 setting the world's most stringent limits on WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-sections over a wide range of WIMP masses. A 300 day run beginning in 2014 will further improve the sensitivity and new calibration techniques will reduce systematics for the WIMP signal search.

  5. Results from the LUX dark matter experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horn, Markus; Akerib, D.S; Araújo, H.M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A.J.; Balajthy, J.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Bradley, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S.B.; Carmona-Benitez, M.C.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J.J.; Chiller, A.A.; Chiller, C.; Currie, A.; Viveiros, L. de; Dobi, A.

    2015-01-01

    The LUX (Large Underground Xenon) experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter particles via their collisions with xenon nuclei. The 370 kg two-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber measures simultaneously the scintillation and ionization from interactions in the target. The ratio of these two signals provides very good discrimination between potential nuclear recoil and electronic recoil signals to search for WIMP-nucleon scattering. The LUX detector operates at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota, USA) since February 2013. First results were presented in late 2013 setting the world's most stringent limits on WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-sections over a wide range of WIMP masses. A 300 day run beginning in 2014 will further improve the sensitivity and new calibration techniques will reduce systematics for the WIMP signal search

  6. Final results of the EDELWEISS-II WIMP search using a 4-kg array of cryogenic germanium detectors with interleaved electrodes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Armengaud, E.; Augier, C.; Benoit, A.; Berge, L.; Bluemer, J.; Broniatowski, A.; Brudanin, V.; Censier, B.; Chardin, G.; Chapellier, M.; Charlieux, F.; Coulter, P.; Cox, G.A.; Defay, X.; De Jesus, M.; Dolgorouki, Y.; Domange, J.; Dumoulin, L.

    2011-01-01

    The EDELWEISS-II Collaboration has completed a direct search for WIMP dark matter with an array of ten 400-g cryogenic germanium detectors in operation at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane. The combined use of thermal phonon sensors and charge collection electrodes with an interleaved geometry enables the efficient rejection of γ-induced radioactivity as well as near-surface interactions. A total effective exposure of 384 kg d has been achieved, mostly coming from fourteen months of continuous operation. Five nuclear recoil candidates are observed above 20 keV, while the estimated background is 3.0 events. The result is interpreted in terms of limits on the cross-section of spin-independent interactions of WIMPs and nucleons. A cross-section of 4.4x10 -8 pb is excluded at 90%CL for a WIMP mass of 85 GeV. New constraints are also set on models where the WIMP-nucleon scattering is inelastic.

  7. WIMP dark matter and supersymmetry searches with neutrino telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fornengo, N.

    2011-01-01

    The particle physics interpretation of the missing-mass, or dark-matter, a problem of cosmological and astrophysical nature, is going to be placed under strong scrutiny in the next years. From the particle physics side, accelerator physics will deeply test theoretical ideas about new physics beyond the Standard Model, where a particle physics candidate to dark matter is often naturally obtained. From the astrophysical side, many probes are already providing a great deal of independent information on signals which can be produced by the galactic or extra-galactic dark matter. The current and new-generation experimental efforts are therefore going to place under deep scrutiny the theoretical explanations of the relevant signals. The ultimate hope is in fact to be able to disentangle a dark matter signal from the various sources of backgrounds. Neutrino telescopes are one of the prominent tools for looking at dark matter and search for a signal, the neutrino flux from Earth and Sun. In this neutrino dark matter searches share properties with both direct dark matter searches and cosmic-ray indirect dark matter searches, and therefore complement these different detection techniques.

  8. First Results of the LUX Dark Matter Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Beltrame, P.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Bradley, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Currie, A.; de Viveiros, L.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Flores, C.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C.; Hanhardt, M.; Haselschwardt, S.; Hertel, S. A.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Kazkaz, K.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lenardo, B.; Lesko, K. T.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Malling, D. C.; Manalaysay, A.; Mannino, R.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H.; Neves, F.; Ott, R. A.; Pangilinan, M.; Parker, P. D.; Pease, E. K.; Pech, K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Shutt, T.; Silva, C.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; O'Sullivan, K.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D.; Tennyson, B.; Tiedt, D. R.; Tripathi, M.; Tvrznikova, L.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Walsh, N.; Webb, R.; White, J. T.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woods, M.; Zhang, C.; LUX Collaboration

    2016-04-01

    LUX (Large Underground Xenon) is a dark matter direct detection experiment deployed at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD, operating a 370 kg dual-phase xenon TPC. Results of the first WIMP search run were presented in late 2013, for the analysis of 85.3 live-days with a fiducial volume of 118 kg, taken during the period of April to August 2013. The experiment exhibited a sensitivity to spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering with a minimum upper limit on the cross section of 7.6 ×10-46cm2 at a WIMP mass of 33 GeV/c2, becoming the world's leading WIMP search result, in conflict with several previous claimed hints of discovery.

  9. Searching for dark matter with neutrino telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hooper, Dan; Silk, Joseph

    2004-01-01

    One of the most interesting mysteries of astrophysics is the puzzle of dark matter. Although numerous techniques have been explored and developed to detect this elusive substance, its nature remains unknown. One such method uses large high-energy neutrino telescopes to look for the annihilation products of dark matter annihilations. In this paper, we briefly review this technique. We describe the calculations used to find the rate of capture of WIMPs in the Sun or Earth and the spectrum of neutrinos produced in the resulting dark matter annihilations. We will discuss these calculations within the context of supersymmetry and models with universal extra dimensions, the lightest supersymmetric particle and lightest Kaluza-Klein particle providing the WIMP candidate in these cases, respectively. We will also discuss the status of some of the experiments relevant to these searches: AMANDA, IceCube and ANTARES

  10. WIMP Dark Matter interpretation of Higgs results

    CERN Document Server

    Wang, Renjie; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The results from searching for dark matter either directly from invisible decay of Higgs bosons or in association with a Higgs boson at the LHC are presented. No significant excess is found beyond the Standard Model prediction, and upper limits are set on the production cross section times branching fraction using data collected in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 13 TeV by the ATLAS and CMS detectors. An interpreted upper limit is presented on the allowed dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section.

  11. FIRST STUDY OF DARK MATTER PROPERTIES WITH DETECTED SOLAR GRAVITY MODES AND NEUTRINOS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Turck-Chieze, S.; Garcia, R. A. [CEA/DSM/IRFU/SAp-AIM, CE Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Lopes, I. [Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofisica, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Ballot, J. [Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie, CNRS, 14 avenue Edouard Belin and Universite de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, IRAP, 31400 Toulouse (France); Couvidat, S. [W.W. Hansen. E. P. L., Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Mathur, S. [High Altitude Observatory, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 (United States); Salabert, D. [CNRS, Observatoire de la Cote d' Azur, Universite de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4 (France); Silk, J., E-mail: Sylvaine.Turck-Chieze@cea.fr [UPMC-CNRS, UMR7095, Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, F-75014 Paris (France)

    2012-02-10

    We derive new limits on the cold dark matter properties for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), potentially trapped in the solar core by using for the first time the central temperature constrained by boron neutrinos and the central density constrained by the dipolar gravity modes detected with the Global Oscillations at Low Frequency/Solar Helioseismic Observatory instrument. These detections disfavor the presence of non-annihilating WIMPs for masses {<=}10 GeV and spin dependent cross-sections >5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -36} cm{sup 2} in the solar core but cannot constrain WIMP annihilation models. We suggest that in the coming years helio- and asteroseismology will provide complementary probes of dark matter.

  12. Axion as a non-WIMP dark matter candidate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saikawa, Ken'ichi

    2017-09-01

    The axion arises in well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics and is regarded as an alternative to the weakly interacting massive particle paradigm to explain the nature of dark matter. In this contribution, we review theoretical aspects of dark matter axions, particularly focusing on recent developments in the estimation of their relic abundance. A closer look at their non-thermal production mechanisms in the early universe reveals the possibility of explaining the observed dark matter abundance in various mass ranges. The mass ranges predicted in various cosmological scenarios are briefly summarized.

  13. Neutrino and dark matter physics with sub-keV germanium detectors

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2014-11-04

    Nov 4, 2014 ... Germanium detectors with sub-keV sensitivities open a window to study neutrino physics to search for light weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. We summarize the recent results on spin-independent couplings of light WIMPs from the TEXONO experiment at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor ...

  14. Dark matter, neutron stars, and strange quark matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez-Garcia, M Angeles; Silk, Joseph; Stone, Jirina R

    2010-10-01

    We show that self-annihilating weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter accreted onto neutron stars may provide a mechanism to seed compact objects with long-lived lumps of strange quark matter, or strangelets, for WIMP masses above a few GeV. This effect may trigger a conversion of most of the star into a strange star. We use an energy estimate for the long-lived strangelet based on the Fermi-gas model combined with the MIT bag model to set a new limit on the possible values of the WIMP mass that can be especially relevant for subdominant species of massive neutralinos.

  15. Dark matter search with the HDMS-experiment and the GENIUS project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baudis, L.; Hellmig, J.; Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H.V.; Ramachers, Y.; Strecker, H.

    1999-01-01

    We present a new Germanium Dark Matter Experiment. It consists of two HPGe-Detectors which are run in a unique configuration. The anticoincidence between the two detectors will further reduce the background that we achieve now in the Heidelberg-Moscow-Experiment and will allow to improve WIMP cross section limits to a level comparable to planned cryogenic experiments. This should also allow to test recently claimed positive evidence for dark matter by the DAMA experiment. We show first detector performances from the test period in the Heidelberg Low Level Laboratory and give a preliminary estimation for the background reduction efficiency. The HDMS experiment in being built up now in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory and will start taking data by the end of this year. For a substantial improvement of the WIMP-nucleon cross section limits, future dark matter experiments will have to be either massive direction-sensitive detectors or massive ton-scale detectors with almost zero background. A proposal for a high mass (1 ton) Ge experiment with a much further reduced background is the Heidelberg GENIUS experiment. GENIUS will be able to give a WIMP limit of the order 0.02 counts/day/kg and additionally to look for the annual modulation WIMP-signature by using raw data without subtraction

  16. Dark Matter Results from First 98.7 Days of Data from the PandaX-II Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Andi; Xiao, Mengjiao; Cui, Xiangyi; Chen, Xun; Chen, Yunhua; Fang, Deqing; Fu, Changbo; Giboni, Karl; Giuliani, Franco; Gong, Haowei; Guo, Xuyuan; Han, Ke; Hu, Shouyang; Huang, Xingtao; Ji, Xiangdong; Ju, Yonglin; Lei, Siao; Li, Shaoli; Li, Xiaomei; Li, Xinglong; Liang, Hao; Lin, Qing; Liu, Huaxuan; Liu, Jianglai; Lorenzon, Wolfgang; Ma, Yugang; Mao, Yajun; Ni, Kaixuan; Ren, Xiangxiang; Schubnell, Michael; Shen, Manbin; Shi, Fang; Wang, Hongwei; Wang, Jimin; Wang, Meng; Wang, Qiuhong; Wang, Siguang; Wang, Xuming; Wang, Zhou; Wu, Shiyong; Xiao, Xiang; Xie, Pengwei; Yan, Binbin; Yang, Yong; Yue, Jianfeng; Zeng, Xionghui; Zhang, Hongguang; Zhang, Hua; Zhang, Huanqiao; Zhang, Tao; Zhao, Li; Zhou, Jing; Zhou, Ning; Zhou, Xiaopeng

    2016-09-16

    We report the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter search results using the first physics-run data of the PandaX-II 500 kg liquid xenon dual-phase time-projection chamber, operating at the China JinPing underground laboratory. No dark matter candidate is identified above background. In combination with the data set during the commissioning run, with a total exposure of 3.3×10^{4}  kg day, the most stringent limit to the spin-independent interaction between the ordinary and WIMP dark matter is set for a range of dark matter mass between 5 and 1000  GeV/c^{2}. The best upper limit on the scattering cross section is found 2.5×10^{-46}  cm^{2} for the WIMP mass 40  GeV/c^{2} at 90% confidence level.

  17. A Study of Nuclear Recoils in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber for the Direct Detection of WIMP Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cao, Huajie [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

    2014-11-01

    Robust results of WIMP direct detection experiments depend on rm understandings of nuclear recoils in the detector media. This thesis documents the most comprehensive study to date on nuclear recoils in liquid argon - a strong candidate for the next generation multi-ton scale WIMP detectors. This study investigates both the energy partition from nuclear recoil energy to secondary modes (scintillation and ionization) and the pulse shape characteristics of scintillation from nuclear recoils.

  18. Two-loop Dirac neutrino mass and WIMP dark matter

    OpenAIRE

    Bonilla, Cesar; Ma, Ernest; Peinado, Eduardo; Valle, Jose W.F.

    2018-01-01

    We propose a "scotogenic" mechanism relating small neutrino mass and cosmological dark matter. Neutrinos are Dirac fermions with masses arising only in two--loop order through the sector responsible for dark matter. Two triality symmetries ensure both dark matter stability and strict lepton number conservation at higher orders. A global spontaneously broken U(1) symmetry leads to a physical $Diracon$ that induces invisible Higgs decays which add up to the Higgs to dark matter mode. This enhan...

  19. Academic Training: Search for Dark Matter - Lecture series

    CERN Multimedia

    Françoise Benz

    2004-01-01

    28, 29, 30 June, 1 & 2 July ACADEMIC TRAINING LECTURE REGULAR PROGRAMME From 11:00 hrs - 28, 29 June, 1, 2 July, Main Auditorium bldg. 500. 30 June, Council Chamber bldg. 503 Search for Dark Matter B. Sadoulet / Univ. of California, Berkeley, USA In the first lecture, I will review the most recent cosmological evidence for the pervading dark matter in the universe and the emerging consensus that it is not ordinary matter. We will then focus on thermal particle candidates, which may have been produced in the hot early universe and stayed around to constitute dark matter: neutrinos and Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). I will emphasize what can be learnt from cosmology (e.g. the evidence for cold dark matter and the limits on neutrino masses). The third and the fourth lectures will be devoted the direct detection of WIMPs, its technical challenges and the present status. I will describe the recent advances from phonon-mediated detectors which currently provide the best limits and revi...

  20. 7th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs (PATRAS 2011). Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zioutas, Konstantin; Schumann, Marc

    2011-12-01

    The year 2011 was an exciting period to work on the ''dark side'' of the Universe. Several experimental claims of the direct detection of WIMP dark matter were challenged by the restrictive limits of several others. Dedicated experiments searching for axions, another well motivated dark matter candidate, and for axion-like particles continued to improve their limits and got an additional boost by puzzling astrophysical observations and new developments in theory. The LHC collected an unexpectedly large amount of data and started to produce results at an amazing speed. And finally, this year's Nobel price of physics was awarded to the observation of the accelerating expansion of the Universe, an effect which might be related to dark energy, whose nature remain among the biggest mysteries in physics. These exciting topics and many more important aspects of particle- and astroparticle physics were discussed between experimentalists and theorists at the 7th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs, and WISPs. The workshop took place from June 27 - July 1, 2011, in the Royal Myconian and Myconian Imperial Resorts Hotels on the Greek island of Mykonos. As in the previous years, it was a very fruitful and lively meeting in an inspiring and open atmosphere, which allowed for many open and constructive discussions also on controversial topics. The scientific exchange, the beautiful scenery of the island, the venue itself, the food, an excursion to the ancient ruins of Delos, and finally an amazing conference dinner made this meeting really unique. The ''spirit'' of the workshop and its atmosphere cannot be brought to paper, but many of its scientific highlights are collected in these proceedings. We are looking forward to the 8th Patras Workshop, which will be held in Chicago (USA) July 18-22, 2012. It will be organized jointly by our US colleagues Andrei Afanasev (JLAB), Oliver Baker (Yale), and William Wester (FNAL).

  1. Solar atmospheric neutrinos and the sensitivity floor for solar dark matter annihilation searches

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Argüelles, C.A. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge MA (United States); De Wasseige, G. [Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Elsene, Brussels (Belgium); Fedynitch, A. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe (Germany); Jones, B.J.P., E-mail: caad@mit.edu, E-mail: gdewasse@vub.ac.be, E-mail: anatoli.fedynitch@desy.de, E-mail: ben.jones@uta.edu [University of Texas at Arlington, 108 Science Hall, 502 Yates St, Arlington TX (United States)

    2017-07-01

    Cosmic rays interacting in the solar atmosphere produce showers that result in a flux of high-energy neutrinos from the Sun. These form an irreducible background to indirect solar WIMP self-annihilation searches, which look for heavy dark matter particles annihilating into final states containing neutrinos in the Solar core. This background will eventually create a sensitivity floor for indirect WIMP self-annihilation searches analogous to that imposed by low-energy solar neutrino interactions for direct dark matter detection experiments. We present a new calculation of the flux of solar atmospheric neutrinos with a detailed treatment of systematic uncertainties inherent in solar atmospheric shower evolution, and we use this to derive the sensitivity floor for indirect solar WIMP annihilation analyses. We find that the floor lies less than one order of magnitude beyond the present experimental limits on spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross sections for some mass points, and that the high-energy solar atmospheric neutrino flux may be observable with running and future neutrino telescopes.

  2. Constraints on WIMP masses and interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enqvist, K.

    1991-01-01

    It is shown that cosmology, experiments and unitarity considerations limit the mass and coupling g' of a generic, heavy WIMP from the above as well as from the below. There are absolute lower limits of 4x10 -5 g and 6x10 -5 g for the couplings of Diracn and Majorana WIMPs, respectively. In U(1)' models cosmology implies an upper limit of about 1 TeV on the Z' and on the WIMP masses, but only in the absence of Z-Z' mixing. (orig.)

  3. Dark-matter dispute intensifies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avignone, Frank T.

    2000-01-01

    Recent results from a dark-matter experiment in Italy suggest that the elusive weakly interacting massive particle or WIMP has finally been detected - but a rival experimental collaboration in the US disagrees. The controversy surrounding evidence for the discovery of ''dark matter'' particles has heated up following two conflicting talks given at a conference at the end of February. The papers were presented at the 4th International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter/Energy in the Universe held in Marina del Ray, California. For almost 70 years astronomers have known that dust, gas and other ordinary matter cannot account for almost 90% of the mass of many galaxies. The galaxies must contain other ''dark'' matter to explain the orbital motions of stars around their centres. Many astrophysicists, cosmologists and particle physicists have conjectured that this seemingly empty space could be populated by a dense body of massive, but very weakly interacting, particles called WIMPs. Such particles would then provide the gravitational fields needed to keep the stars moving as observed. Since the results of the first experimental efforts to detect these particles were published in 1987, literally dozens of experiments have been performed around the world. Two of the most sensitive experiments to date are the DAMA experiment at the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, and the CDMS experiment at Stanford University in the US. The DAMA collaboration - which includes physicists from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Rome La Sapienza and the Chinese Academy in Beijing - has been searching for WIMPs for several years using a large array of sodium-iodide detectors located 1400 m below ground. The CDMS experiment uses cryogenic detectors and is located just 10 m underground. The collaboration includes researchers from several centres in the US and Russia. Assuming that they do exist, a WIMP will occasionally strike a nucleus in the detector material

  4. Dark-matter dispute intensifies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Avignone, Frank T. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)

    2000-04-01

    Recent results from a dark-matter experiment in Italy suggest that the elusive weakly interacting massive particle or WIMP has finally been detected - but a rival experimental collaboration in the US disagrees. The controversy surrounding evidence for the discovery of ''dark matter'' particles has heated up following two conflicting talks given at a conference at the end of February. The papers were presented at the 4th International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter/Energy in the Universe held in Marina del Ray, California. For almost 70 years astronomers have known that dust, gas and other ordinary matter cannot account for almost 90% of the mass of many galaxies. The galaxies must contain other ''dark'' matter to explain the orbital motions of stars around their centres. Many astrophysicists, cosmologists and particle physicists have conjectured that this seemingly empty space could be populated by a dense body of massive, but very weakly interacting, particles called WIMPs. Such particles would then provide the gravitational fields needed to keep the stars moving as observed. Since the results of the first experimental efforts to detect these particles were published in 1987, literally dozens of experiments have been performed around the world. Two of the most sensitive experiments to date are the DAMA experiment at the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, and the CDMS experiment at Stanford University in the US. The DAMA collaboration - which includes physicists from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Rome La Sapienza and the Chinese Academy in Beijing - has been searching for WIMPs for several years using a large array of sodium-iodide detectors located 1400 m below ground. The CDMS experiment uses cryogenic detectors and is located just 10 m underground. The collaboration includes researchers from several centres in the US and Russia. Assuming that they do exist, a WIMP will occasionally

  5. Review on Dark Photon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Curciarello Francesca

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available e+e− collider experiments at the intensity frontier are naturally suited to probe the existence of a force beyond the Standard Model between WIMPs, the most viable dark matter candidates. The mediator of this new force, known as dark photon, should be a new vector gauge boson very weakly coupled to the Standard Model photon. No significant signal has been observed so far. I will report on current limits set on the coupling factor ε2 between the photon and the dark photon by e+e− collider experiments.

  6. Baryonic and Non-Baryonic Dark Matter

    OpenAIRE

    Carr, Bernard

    2000-01-01

    Cosmological nucleosynthesis calculations imply that there should be both non-baryonic and baryonic dark matter. Recent data suggest that some of the non-baryonic dark matter must be "hot" (i.e. massive neutrinos) and there may also be evidence for "cold" dark matter (i.e. WIMPs). If the baryonic dark matter resides in galactic halos, it is likely to be in the form of compact objects (i.e. MACHOs) and these would probably be the remnants of a first generation of pregalactic or protogalactic P...

  7. Current and future searches for dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bauer, Daniel A.

    2005-01-01

    Recent experimental data confirms that approximately one quarter of the universe consists of cold dark matter. Particle theories provide natural candidates for this dark matter in the form of either Axions or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). A growing body of experiments is aimed at direct or indirect detection of particle dark matter. I summarize the current status of these experiments and offer projections of their future sensitivity

  8. Constraints on light WIMP candidates from the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arina, Chiara; Tytgat, Michel H.G.

    2011-01-01

    Motivated by the measurements reported by direct detection experiments, most notably DAMA, CDMS-II, CoGeNT and Xenon10/100, we study further the constraints that might be set on some light dark matter candidates, M DM ∼ few GeV, using the Fermi-LAT data on the isotropic gamma-ray diffuse emission. In particular, we consider a Dirac fermion singlet interacting through a new Z' gauge boson, and a scalar singlet S interacting through the Higgs portal. Both candidates are WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), i.e. they have an annihilation cross-section in the pbarn range. Also they may both have a spin-independent elastic cross section on nucleons in the range required by direct detection experiments. Although being generic WIMP candidates, because they have different interactions with Standard Model particles, their phenomenology regarding the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray emission is quite distinct. In the case of the scalar singlet, the one-to-one correspondence between its annihilation cross-section and its spin-independent elastic scattering cross-section permits to express the constraints from the Fermi-LAT data in the direct detection exclusion plot, σ n 0 −M DM . Depending on the astrophysics, we argue that it is possible to exclude the singlet scalar dark matter candidate at 95% confidence level. The constraints on the Dirac singlet interacting through a Z' are comparatively weaker

  9. Superheavy dark matter

    CERN Document Server

    Riotto, Antonio

    2000-01-01

    It is usually thought that the present mass density of the Universe is dominated by a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), a fossil relic of the early Universe. Theoretical ideas and experimental efforts have focused mostly on production and detection of thermal relics, with mass typically in the range a few GeV to a hundred GeV. Here, we will review scenarios for production of nonthermal dark matter whose mass may be in the range 10/sup 12/ to 10/sup 19/ GeV, much larger than the mass of thermal wimpy WIMPS. We will also review recent related results in understanding the production of very heavy fermions through preheating after inflation. (19 refs).

  10. A Search for Weakly Interacting Particles with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bruch, Tobias [Univ. of Zurich (Switzerland)

    2010-01-01

    Dark matter particles cannot only be detected directly in laboratories, but also indirectly by their annihilation products. Previous predictions of the neutrino flux from WIMP annihilation in the Earth and the Sun have assumed that galactic dark matter is distributed according to the SHM. Although the dark disc has a local density comparable to the dark halo, its higher phase space density at low velocities greatly enhances capture rates in the Sun and Earth. For typical dark disc properties, the resulting muon flux from the Earth is increased by three orders of magnitude over the SHM, while for the Sun the increase is one order of magnitude. This significantly increases the prospects of neutrino telescopes to fix or constrain parameters in WIMP models. The flux from the Earth is extremely sensitive to the detailed properties of the dark disc, while the flux from the Sun is more robust.

  11. Solar-stellar astrophysics and dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turck-Chièze, Sylvaine; Lopes, Ilídio

    2012-01-01

    In this review, we recall how stars contribute to the search for dark matter and the specific role of the Sun. We describe a more complete picture of the solar interior that emerges from neutrino detections, gravity and acoustic mode measurements of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, becoming a reference for the most common stars in the Universe. The Sun is a unique star in that we can observe directly the effect of dark matter. The absence of a signature related to Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in its core disfavors a WIMP mass range below 12GeV. We give arguments to continue this search on the Sun and other promising cases. We also examine another dark matter candidate, the sterile neutrino, and infer the limitations of the classical structural equations. Open questions on the young Sun, when planets formed, and on its present internal dynamics are finally discussed. Future directions are proposed for the next decade: a better description of the solar core, a generalization to stars coming from seismic missions and a better understanding of the dynamics of our galaxy which are all crucial keys for understanding dark matter.

  12. Results from the two-tower run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reisetter, Angela Jean [Minnesota U.

    2005-01-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search has completed two runs at the Soudan Underground Laboratory In the second, two towers of detectors were operated from March to August 2004. CDMS used Ge and Si ZIP (Z-sensitive, Ionization, and Phonon) detectors, operated at 50mK, to look for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) which may make up most of the dark matter in our universe. These detectors are surrounded by lead and polyethylene shielding as well as an active muon veto. These shields, as well as the overburden of Soudan rock, provide a low background environment for the detectors. The ZIP detectors record the ratio of ionization signal to phonon signal to discriminate between nuclear recoils, characteristic of WIMPs and neutrons, and electron recoils, characteristic of gamma and beta backgrounds. They also provide timing information from the four phonon channels that is used to reject surface events, for which ionization collection is poor. A blind analysis, dened using calibration data taken in situ throughout the run, provides a denition of the WIMP signal region by rejecting backgrounds. This analysis applied to the WIMP search data gives a limit on the spin independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section that is an order of magnitude lower than any other experiment has published.

  13. Results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Using a Chi Squared Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sander, Joel [UC, Santa Barbara

    2007-12-01

    Most of the mass-energy density of the universe remains undetected and is only understood through its affects on visible, baryonic matter. The visible, baryonic matter accounts for only about half of a percent of the universe's total mass-energy budget, while the remainder of the mass-energy of the universe remains dark or undetected. About a quarter of the dark mass-energy density of the universe is comprised of massive particles that do not interact via the strong or electromagnetic forces. If these particles interact via the weak force, they are termed weakly interacting massive particles or WIMPs, and their interactions with baryonic matter could be detectable. The CDMS II experiment attempts to detect WIMP interactions in the Soudan Underground Laboratory using germanium detectors and silicon detectors. A WIMP can interact a with detector nuclei causing the nuclei to recoil. A nuclear recoil is distinguished from background electron recoils by comparing the deposited ionization and phonon energies. Electron recoils occurring near detector surfaces are more difficult to reject. This thesis describes the results of a χ2 analysis designed to reject events occurring near detector surfaces. Because no WIMP signal was observed, separate limits using the germanium and silicon detectors are set on the WIMP cross section under standard astrophysical assumptions.

  14. Search for magnetic inelastic dark matter with XENON100

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aprile, E.; Anthony, M. [Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); Aalbers, J.; Breur, P.A.; Brown, A. [Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Science Park, 1098XG Amsterdam (Netherlands); Agostini, F.; Bruno, G. [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100 L' Aquila (Italy); Alfonsi, M. [Institut für Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Amaro, F.D. [LIBPhys, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516 Coimbra (Portugal); Arneodo, F.; Benabderrahmane, M.L. [New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Barrow, P.; Baudis, L. [Physik-Institut, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich (Switzerland); Bauermeister, B.; Calvén, J. [Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Stockholm SE-10691 (Sweden); Berger, T.; Brown, E. [Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180 (United States); Bruenner, S. [Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Budnik, R. [Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001 (Israel); Bütikofer, L., E-mail: lukas.buetikofer@lhep.unibe.ch, E-mail: xenon@lngs.infn.it [Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg (Germany); and others

    2017-10-01

    We present the first search for dark matter-induced delayed coincidence signals in a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber, using the 224.6 live days of the XENON100 science run II. This very distinct signature is predicted in the framework of magnetic inelastic dark matter which has been proposed to reconcile the modulation signal reported by the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration with the null results from other direct detection experiments. No candidate event has been found in the region of interest and upper limits on the WIMP's magnetic dipole moment are derived. The scenarios proposed to explain the DAMA/LIBRA modulation signal by magnetic inelastic dark matter interactions of WIMPs with masses of 58.0 GeV/c{sup 2} and 122.7 GeV/c{sup 2} are excluded at 3.3 σ and 9.3 σ, respectively.

  15. First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aartsen, M.G.; Hill, G.C.; Robertson, S.; Wallace, A.; Whelan, B.J.; Abraham, K.; Bernhard, A.; Coenders, S.; Holzapfel, K.; Huber, M.; Jurkovic, M.; Krings, K.; Resconi, E.; Turcati, A.; Veenkamp, J.; Ackermann, M.; Bernardini, E.; Blot, S.; Bretz, H.P.; Franckowiak, A.; Gluesenkamp, T.; Jacobi, E.; Karg, T.; Kintscher, T.; Kunwar, S.; Mohrmann, L.; Nahnhauer, R.; Satalecka, K.; Spiering, C.; Stasik, A.; Stoessl, A.; Strotjohann, N.L.; Terliuk, A.; Usner, M.; Santen, J. van; Yanez, J.P.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J.A.; Ansseau, I.; Heereman, D.; Meagher, K.; Meures, T.; O'Murchadha, A.; Pinat, E.; Raab, C.; Ahlers, M.; Braun, J.; Chirkin, D.; Day, M.; Desiati, P.; Diaz-Velez, J.C.; Fahey, S.; Feintzeig, J.; Ghorbani, K.; Gladstone, L.; Griffith, Z.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Jero, K.; Karle, A.; Kauer, M.; Kelley, J.L.; Kheirandish, A.; Krueger, C.; Mancina, S.; McNally, F.; Merino, G.; Sabbatini, L.; Tobin, M.N.; Tosi, D.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Rossem, M. van; Wandkowsky, N.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Wille, L.; Xu, D.L.; Ahrens, M.; Bohm, C.; Dumm, J.P.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Hultqvist, K.; Walck, C.; Wolf, M.; Zoll, M.; Altmann, D.; Anton, G.; Katz, U.; Kittler, T.; Tselengidou, M.; Andeen, K.; Anderson, T.; Dunkman, M.; Eller, P.; Huang, F.; Keivani, A.; Lanfranchi, J.L.; Pankova, D.V.; Quinnan, M.; Tesic, G.; Weiss, M.J.; Archinger, M.; Baum, V.; Boeser, S.; Pino Rosendo, E. del; Di Lorenzo, V.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Foesig, C.C.; Koepke, L.; Krueckl, G.; Peiffer, P.; Sandroos, J.; Steuer, A.; Wiebe, K.; Argueelles, C.; Axani, S.; Collin, G.H.; Conrad, J.M.; Jones, B.J.P.; Moulai, M.; Auffenberg, J.; Bissok, M.; Glagla, M.; Glauch, T.; Haack, C.; Hansmann, B.; Hansmann, T.; Kemp, J.; Konietz, R.; Leuermann, M.; Leuner, J.; Penek, Oe.; Raedel, L.; Reimann, R.; Rongen, M.; Schimp, M.; Schoenen, S.; Schumacher, L.; Stahlberg, M.; Stettner, J.; Vehring, M.; Vogel, E.; Wallraff, M.; Wickmann, S.; Wiebusch, C.H.; Bai, X.; Barwick, S.W.; Yodh, G.; Bay, R.; Filimonov, K.; Price, P.B.; Woschnagg, K.; Beatty, J.J.; Becker Tjus, J.; Bos, F.; Eichmann, B.; Kroll, M.; Mandelartz, M.; Schoeneberg, S.; Tenholt, F.; Becker, K.H.; Bindig, D.; Helbing, K.; Hickford, S.; Hoffmann, R.; Kopper, S.; Lauber, F.; Naumann, U.; Obertacke Pollmann, A.; Soldin, D.; BenZvi, S.; Cross, R.; Berley, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Cheung, E.; Felde, J.; Friedman, E.; Hellauer, R.; Hoffman, K.D.; Maunu, R.; Olivas, A.; Schmidt, T.; Song, M.; Sullivan, G.W.; Besson, D.Z.; Binder, G.; Gerhardt, L.; Klein, S.R.; Miarecki, S.; Tatar, J.

    2017-01-01

    We present the results of the first IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the center of the Earth. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), candidates for dark matter, can scatter off nuclei inside the Earth and fall below its escape velocity. Over time the captured WIMPs will be accumulated and may eventually self-annihilate. Among the annihilation products only neutrinos can escape from the center of the Earth. Large-scale neutrino telescopes, such as the cubic kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, can be used to search for such neutrino fluxes. Data from 327 days of detector livetime during 2011/2012 were analyzed. No excess beyond the expected background from atmospheric neutrinos was detected. The derived upper limits on the annihilation rate of WIMPs in the Earth and the resulting muon flux are an order of magnitude stronger than the limits of the last analysis performed with data from IceCube's predecessor AMANDA. The limits can be translated in terms of a spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section. For a WIMP mass of 50 GeV this analysis results in the most restrictive limits achieved with IceCube data. (orig.)

  16. First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aartsen, M.G.; Hill, G.C.; Robertson, S.; Wallace, A.; Whelan, B.J. [University of Adelaide, Department of Physics, Adelaide (Australia); Abraham, K.; Bernhard, A.; Coenders, S.; Holzapfel, K.; Huber, M.; Jurkovic, M.; Krings, K.; Resconi, E.; Turcati, A.; Veenkamp, J. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Physik-Department, Garching (Germany); Ackermann, M.; Bernardini, E.; Blot, S.; Bretz, H.P.; Franckowiak, A.; Gluesenkamp, T.; Jacobi, E.; Karg, T.; Kintscher, T.; Kunwar, S.; Mohrmann, L.; Nahnhauer, R.; Satalecka, K.; Spiering, C.; Stasik, A.; Stoessl, A.; Strotjohann, N.L.; Terliuk, A.; Usner, M.; Santen, J. van; Yanez, J.P. [DESY, Zeuthen (Germany); Adams, J. [University of Canterbury, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch (New Zealand); Aguilar, J.A.; Ansseau, I.; Heereman, D.; Meagher, K.; Meures, T.; O' Murchadha, A.; Pinat, E.; Raab, C. [Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Science Faculty CP230, Brussels (Belgium); Ahlers, M.; Braun, J.; Chirkin, D.; Day, M.; Desiati, P.; Diaz-Velez, J.C.; Fahey, S.; Feintzeig, J.; Ghorbani, K.; Gladstone, L.; Griffith, Z.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Jero, K.; Karle, A.; Kauer, M.; Kelley, J.L.; Kheirandish, A.; Krueger, C.; Mancina, S.; McNally, F.; Merino, G.; Sabbatini, L.; Tobin, M.N.; Tosi, D.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Rossem, M. van; Wandkowsky, N.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Wille, L.; Xu, D.L. [University of Wisconsin, Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, Madison, WI (United States); Ahrens, M.; Bohm, C.; Dumm, J.P.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Hultqvist, K.; Walck, C.; Wolf, M.; Zoll, M. [Stockholm University, Department of Physics, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm (Sweden); Altmann, D.; Anton, G.; Katz, U.; Kittler, T.; Tselengidou, M. [Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Erlangen (Germany); Andeen, K. [Marquette University, Department of Physics, Milwaukee, WI (United States); Anderson, T.; Dunkman, M.; Eller, P.; Huang, F.; Keivani, A.; Lanfranchi, J.L.; Pankova, D.V.; Quinnan, M.; Tesic, G.; Weiss, M.J. [Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, University Park, PA (United States); Archinger, M.; Baum, V.; Boeser, S.; Pino Rosendo, E. del; Di Lorenzo, V.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Foesig, C.C.; Koepke, L.; Krueckl, G.; Peiffer, P.; Sandroos, J.; Steuer, A.; Wiebe, K. [University of Mainz, Institute of Physics, Mainz (Germany); Argueelles, C.; Axani, S.; Collin, G.H.; Conrad, J.M.; Jones, B.J.P.; Moulai, M. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Cambridge, MA (United States); Auffenberg, J.; Bissok, M.; Glagla, M.; Glauch, T.; Haack, C.; Hansmann, B.; Hansmann, T.; Kemp, J.; Konietz, R.; Leuermann, M.; Leuner, J.; Penek, Oe.; Raedel, L.; Reimann, R.; Rongen, M.; Schimp, M.; Schoenen, S.; Schumacher, L.; Stahlberg, M.; Stettner, J.; Vehring, M.; Vogel, E.; Wallraff, M.; Wickmann, S.; Wiebusch, C.H. [RWTH Aachen University, III. Physikalisches Institut, Aachen (Germany); Bai, X. [South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Physics Department, Rapid City, SD (United States); Barwick, S.W.; Yodh, G. [University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Irvine, CA (United States); Bay, R.; Filimonov, K.; Price, P.B.; Woschnagg, K. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Beatty, J.J. [Ohio State University, Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Columbus, OH (United States); Ohio State University, Department of Astronomy, Columbus, OH (United States); Becker Tjus, J.; Bos, F.; Eichmann, B.; Kroll, M.; Mandelartz, M.; Schoeneberg, S.; Tenholt, F. [Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Fakultaet fuer Physik and Astronomie, Bochum (Germany); Becker, K.H.; Bindig, D.; Helbing, K.; Hickford, S.; Hoffmann, R.; Kopper, S.; Lauber, F.; Naumann, U.; Obertacke Pollmann, A.; Soldin, D. [University of Wuppertal, Department of Physics, Wuppertal (Germany); BenZvi, S.; Cross, R. [University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, NY (United States); Berley, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Cheung, E.; Felde, J.; Friedman, E.; Hellauer, R.; Hoffman, K.D.; Maunu, R.; Olivas, A.; Schmidt, T.; Song, M.; Sullivan, G.W. [University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD (United States); Besson, D.Z. [University of Kansas, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lawrence, KS (United States); Binder, G.; Gerhardt, L.; Klein, S.R.; Miarecki, S.; Tatar, J. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Collaboration: IceCube Collaboration; and others

    2017-02-15

    We present the results of the first IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the center of the Earth. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), candidates for dark matter, can scatter off nuclei inside the Earth and fall below its escape velocity. Over time the captured WIMPs will be accumulated and may eventually self-annihilate. Among the annihilation products only neutrinos can escape from the center of the Earth. Large-scale neutrino telescopes, such as the cubic kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, can be used to search for such neutrino fluxes. Data from 327 days of detector livetime during 2011/2012 were analyzed. No excess beyond the expected background from atmospheric neutrinos was detected. The derived upper limits on the annihilation rate of WIMPs in the Earth and the resulting muon flux are an order of magnitude stronger than the limits of the last analysis performed with data from IceCube's predecessor AMANDA. The limits can be translated in terms of a spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section. For a WIMP mass of 50 GeV this analysis results in the most restrictive limits achieved with IceCube data. (orig.)

  17. Dark matter search experiment with CaF2(Eu) scintillator at Kamioka Observatory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shimizu, Y.; Minowa, M.; Suganuma, W.; Inoue, Y.

    2006-01-01

    We report recent results of a WIMP dark matter search experiment using 310 g of CaF 2 (Eu) scintillator at Kamioka Observatory. We chose a highly radio-pure crystal, PMTs and radiation shields, so that the background rate decreased considerably. We derived limits on the spin dependent WIMP-proton and WIMP-neutron coupling coefficients, a p and a n . The limits excluded a part of the parameter space allowed by the annual modulation observation of the DAMA NaI experiment

  18. Search for weakly interacting massive particles with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saab, Tarek [Stanford U.

    2002-01-01

    From individual galaxies, to clusters of galaxies, to in between the cushions of your sofa, Dark Matter appears to be pervasive on every scale. With increasing accuracy, recent astrophysical measurements, from a variety of experiments, are arriving at the following cosmological model : a flat cosmology (Ωk = 0) with matter and energy densities contributing roughly 1/3 and 2/3 (Ωm = 0.35, ΩΛ = 0.65). Of the matter contribution, it appears that only ~ 10% (Ωb ~ 0.04) is attributable to baryons. Astrophysical measurements constrain the remaining matter to be non-realtivistic, interacting primarily gravitationally. Various theoretical models for such Dark Matter exist. A leading candidate for the non-baryonic matter are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (dubbed WIMPS). These particles, and their relic density may be naturally explained within the framework of Super-Symmetry theories. SuperSymmetry also offers predictions as to the scattering rates of WIMPs with baryonic matter allowing for the design and tailoring of experiments that search specifically for the WIMPs. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment is searching for evidence of WIMP interactions in crystals of Ge and Si. Using cryogenic detector technology to measure both the phonon and ionization response to a particle recoil the CDMS detectors are able to discriminate between electron and nuclear recoils, thus reducing the large rates of electron recoil backgrounds to levels with which a Dark Matter search is not only feasible, but far-reaching. This thesis will describe in some detail the physical principles behind the CDMS detector technology, highlighting the final step in the evolution of the detector design and characterization techniques. In addition, data from a 100 day long exposure of the current run at the Stanford Underground Facility will be presented, with focus given to detector performance as well as to the implications on allowable WIMP mass - cross-section parameter space.

  19. The Future of Low Temperature Germanium as Dark Matter Detectors

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2009-01-01

    The Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs) represent one of the most attractive candidates for the dark matter in the universe. With the combination of experiments attempting to detect WIMP scattering in the laboratory, of searches for their annihilation in the cosmos and of their potential production at the LHC, the next five years promise to be transformative. I will review the role played so far by low temperature germanium detectors in the direct detection of WIMPs. Because of its high signal to noise ratio, the simultaneous measurement of athermal phonons and ionization is so far the only demonstrated approach with zero-background. I will argue that this technology can be extrapolated to a target mass of the order of a tonne at reasonable cost and can keep playing a leading role, complementary to noble liquid technologies. I will describe in particular GEODM, the proposed Germanium Observatory for Dark Matter at the US Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL).

  20. Course 6. dark matter: direct detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chardin, G.

    2000-01-01

    Determining the precise nature of dark matter is one of the main open questions of contemporary physics. The search for non-baryonic dark matter is strongly motivated by present data and 3 particle candidates: wimps (weakly interactive massive particles), axions and massive neutrinos are actively searched by several experiments (GENIUS, HDMS, CDMS, EDELWEISS, LLNL, CARRACK, SOLAX, DAMA,...). In this course the author reviews and summarizes the experimental situation and analyzes the main detection strategies developed to identify the dark matter candidates. (A.C.)

  1. Results from the search for dark matter in the Milky Way with 9 years of data of the ANTARES neutrino telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Albert, A.; André, M.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anton, G.; Ardid, M.; Aubert, J.-J.; Avgitas, T.; Baret, B.; Barrios-Martí, J.; Basa, S.; Bertin, V.; Biagi, S.; Bormuth, R.; Bourret, S.; Bouwhuis, M.C.; Bruijn, R.; Brunner, J.; Busto, J.; Capone, A.; Caramete, L.; Carr, J.; Celli, S.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Coelho, J.A.B.; Coleiro, A.; Coniglione, R.; Costantini, H.; Coyle, P.; Creusot, A.; Deschamps, A.; De Bonis, G.; Distefano, C.; Di Palma, I.; Donzaud, C.; Dornic, D.; Drouhin, D.; Eberl, T.; El Bojaddaini, I.; Elsässer, D.; Enzenhöfer, A.; Felis, I.; Fusco, L.A.; Galatà, S.; Gay, P.; Geißelsöder, S.; Geyer, K.; Giordano, V.; Gleixner, A.; Glotin, H.; Grégoire, T.; Gracia-Ruiz, R.; Graf, K.; Hallmann, S.; van Haren, H.; Heijboer, A.J.; Hello, Y.; Hernández-Rey, J.J.; Hößl, J.; Hofestädt, J.; Hugon, C.; Illuminati, G.; James, C.W.; de Jong, M.; Jongen, M.; Kadler, M.; Kalekin, O.; Katz, U.; Kießling, D.; Kouchner, A.; Kreter, M.; Kreykenbohm, I.; Kulikovskiy, V.; Lachaud, C.; Lahmann, R.; Lefèvre, D.; Leonora, E.; Lotze, M.; Loucatos, S.; Marcelin, M.; Margiotta, A.; Marinelli, A.; Martínez-Mora, J.A.; Mathieu, A.; Mele, R.; Melis, K.; Michael, T.; Migliozzi, P.; Moussa, A.; Mueller, C.; Nezri, E.; Pavalas, G.E.; Pellegrino, C.; Perrina, C.; Piattelli, P.; Popa, V.; Pradier, T.; Quinn, L.; Racca, C.; Riccobene, G.; Roensch, K.; Sánchez-Losa, A.; Saldaña, M.; Salvadori, I.; Samtleben, D.F.E.; Sanguineti, M.; Sapienza, P.; Schnabel, J.; Schüssler, F.; Seitz, T.; Sieger, C.; Spurio, M.; Stolarczyk, T.; Taiuti, M.; Tayalati, Y.; Trovato, A.; Tselengidou, M.; Turpin, D.; Tönnis, C.; Vallage, B.; Vallée, C.; Van Elewyck, V.; Vivolo, D.; Vizzoca, A.; Wagner, S.; Wilms, J.; Zornoza, J.D.; Zúñiga, J.

    2017-01-01

    Using data recorded with the ANTARES telescope from 2007 to 2015, a new search for dark matter annihilation in the Milky Way has been performed. Three halo models and five annihilation channels, WIMP + WIMP -> b (b) over bar, W+W-, tau(+)tau(-), mu(+)mu(-) and v (v) over bar, with WIMP masses

  2. Dark matter, a hidden universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trodden, M.; Feng, J.

    2011-01-01

    The main candidates to dark matter are particles called WIMPs for weakly interacting massive particles. 4 experiments (CDMS in Minnesota (Usa), DAMA at Gran Sasso (Italy), CoGeNT in Minnesota (Usa) and PAMELA onboard a Russian satellite) have claimed to have detected them. New clues suggest that it could exist new particles interacting via new forces. The observation that dwarf galaxies are systematically more spherical than massive galaxies might be a sign of the existence of new forces between dark matter components. Dark matter could not be as inert as previously thought. (A.C.)

  3. The search for decaying Dark Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Herder, J W den; Ruchayskiy, O.; Abazajian, K.; Frenk, C.; Hansen, S.; Jonker, P.; Kouveliotou, C.; Lesgourgues, J.; Neronov, A.; Ohashi, T.; Paerels, F.; Paltani, S.; Piro, L.; Pohl, M.; Shaposhnikov, M.; Silk, J.; Valle, J.W.F.

    2009-01-01

    We propose an X-ray mission called Xenia to search for decaying superweakly interacting Dark Matter particles (super-WIMP) with a mass in the keV range. The mission and its observation plan are capable of providing a major break through in our understanding of the nature of Dark Matter (DM). It will confirm, or reject, predictions of a number of particle physics models by increasing the sensitivity of the search for decaying DM by about two orders of magnitude through a wide-field imaging X-ray spectrometer in combination with a dedicated observation program. The proposed mission will provide unique limits on the mixing angle and mass of neutral leptons, right handed partners of neutrinos, which are important Dark Matter candidates. The existence of these particles is strongly motivated by observed neutrino flavor oscillations and the problem of baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In super-WIMP models, the details of the formation of the cosmic web are different from those of LambdaCDM. The proposed mission wil...

  4. DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aalbers, J.; Agostini, F.; Alfonsi, M.; Amaro, F. D.; Amsler, C.; Aprile, E.; Arazi, L.; Arneodo, F.; Barrow, P.; Baudis, L.; Benabderrahmane, M. L.; Berger, T.; Beskers, B.; Breskin, A.; Breur, P. A.; Brown, A.; Brown, E.; Bruenner, S.; Bruno, G.; Budnik, R.; Bütikofer, L.; Calvén, J.; Cardoso, J. M. R.; Cichon, D.; Coderre, D.; Colijn, A. P.; Conrad, J.; Cussonneau, J. P.; Decowski, M. P.; Diglio, S.; Drexlin, G.; Duchovni, E.; Erdal, E.; Eurin, G.; Ferella, A.; Fieguth, A.; Fulgione, W.; Gallo Rosso, A.; Di Gangi, P.; Di Giovanni, A.; Galloway, M.; Garbini, M.; Geis, C.; Glueck, F.; Grandi, L.; Greene, Z.; Grignon, C.; Hasterok, C.; Hannen, V.; Hogenbirk, E.; Howlett, J.; Hilk, D.; Hils, C.; James, A.; Kaminsky, B.; Kazama, S.; Kilminster, B.; Kish, A.; Krauss, L. M.; Landsman, H.; Lang, R. F.; Lin, Q.; Linde, F. L.; Lindemann, S.; Lindner, M.; Lopes, J. A. M.; Marrodán Undagoitia, T.; Masbou, J.; Massoli, F. V.; Mayani, D.; Messina, M.; Micheneau, K.; Molinario, A.; Morå, K. D.; Morteau, E.; Murra, M.; Naganoma, J.; Newstead, J. L.; Ni, K.; Oberlack, U.; Pakarha, P.; Pelssers, B.; de Perio, P.; Persiani, R.; Piastra, F.; Piro, M. C.; Plante, G.; Rauch, L.; Reichard, S.; Rizzo, A.; Rupp, N.; Dos Santos, J. M. F.; Sartorelli, G.; Scheibelhut, M.; Schindler, S.; Schumann, M.; Schreiner, J.; Scotto Lavina, L.; Selvi, M.; Shagin, P.; Silva, M. C.; Simgen, H.; Sissol, P.; von Sivers, M.; Thers, D.; Thurn, J.; Tiseni, A.; Trotta, R.; Tunnell, C. D.; Valerius, K.; Vargas, M. A.; Wang, H.; Wei, Y.; Weinheimer, C.; Wester, T.; Wulf, J.; Zhang, Y.; Zhu, T.; Zuber, K.

    2016-11-01

    DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN (DARWIN) will be an experiment for the direct detection of dark matter using a multi-ton liquid xenon time projection chamber at its core. Its primary goal will be to explore the experimentally accessible parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in a wide mass-range, until neutrino interactions with the target become an irreducible background. The prompt scintillation light and the charge signals induced by particle interactions in the xenon will be observed by VUV sensitive, ultra-low background photosensors. Besides its excellent sensitivity to WIMPs above a mass of 5 GeV/c2, such a detector with its large mass, low-energy threshold and ultra-low background level will also be sensitive to other rare interactions. It will search for solar axions, galactic axion-like particles and the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136Xe, as well as measure the low-energy solar neutrino flux with detect galactic supernovae. We present the concept of the DARWIN detector and discuss its physics reach, the main sources of backgrounds and the ongoing detector design and R&D efforts.

  5. DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aalbers, J.; Breur, P.A.; Brown, A. [Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Agostini, F. [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Bologna and INFN-Bologna, Bologna (Italy); Alfonsi, M.; Beskers, B. [Institut für Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz (Germany); Amaro, F.D. [Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, Coimbra (Portugal); Amsler, C. [Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Universität Bern, Bern (Switzerland); Aprile, E. [Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, NY (United States); Arazi, L.; Breskin, A.; Budnik, R. [Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel); Arneodo, F.; Benabderrahmane, M.L. [New York University Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Barrow, P.; Baudis, L. [Physik-Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich (Switzerland); Berger, T.; Brown, E. [Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (United States); Bruenner, S. [Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Bruno, G., E-mail: lior.arazi@weizmann.ac.il, E-mail: laura.baudis@physik.uzh.ch, E-mail: amos.breskin@weizmann.ac.il, E-mail: decowski@nikhef.nl, E-mail: marc.schumann@lhep.unibe.ch [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and Gran Sasso Science Institute, L' Aquila (Italy); and others

    2016-11-01

    DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN (DARWIN) will be an experiment for the direct detection of dark matter using a multi-ton liquid xenon time projection chamber at its core. Its primary goal will be to explore the experimentally accessible parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in a wide mass-range, until neutrino interactions with the target become an irreducible background. The prompt scintillation light and the charge signals induced by particle interactions in the xenon will be observed by VUV sensitive, ultra-low background photosensors. Besides its excellent sensitivity to WIMPs above a mass of 5 GeV/ c {sup 2}, such a detector with its large mass, low-energy threshold and ultra-low background level will also be sensitive to other rare interactions. It will search for solar axions, galactic axion-like particles and the neutrinoless double-beta decay of {sup 136}Xe, as well as measure the low-energy solar neutrino flux with < 1% precision, observe coherent neutrino-nucleus interactions, and detect galactic supernovae. We present the concept of the DARWIN detector and discuss its physics reach, the main sources of backgrounds and the ongoing detector design and R and D efforts.

  6. Displaying results of direct detection dark matter experiments free of astrophysical uncertainties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rauch, Ludwig [Max Planck Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Collaboration: Collaboration XENON 100

    2015-07-01

    A number of experiments try to measure WIMP interactions by using different detector technologies and target elements. Hence, energy thresholds and sensitivities to light or heavy WIMP masses differ. However, due to large systematic uncertainties in the parameters defining the dark matter halo, a comparison of detectors is demanding. By mapping experimental results from the traditional cross section vs. dark matter mass parameter-space into a dark matter halo independent phase space, direct comparisons between experiments can be made. This is possible due to the monotonicity of the velocity integral which enables to combine all astrophysical assumptions into one parameter common to all experiments. In this talk the motivation as well as the mapping method are explained based on the XENON100 data.

  7. Further results on the WIMP annual modulation signature by DAMA/NaI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernabei, R.; Belli, P.; Cappella, F.

    2005-01-01

    The ≅ 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) set-up of the DAMA project (DAMA/NaI) has investigated the model- independent WIMP annual modulation signature over seven annual cycles for a total exposure of 107731 kg x day, obtaining a model-independent evidence for the presence of a dark matter particle component in the galactic halo at 6.3 σ C.L.. Some of the many possible corollary model-dependent quests for the candidate particle have been investigated with the total exposure as well

  8. Search for gamma-ray spectral lines with the Fermi Large Area Telescope and dark matter implications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; Allafort, A.; Baldini, L.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Bissaldi, E.; Bloom, E. D.; Bonamente, E.; Bottacini, E.; Brandt, T. J.; Bregeon, J.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Buehler, R.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cecchi, C.; Charles, E.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Chekhtman, A.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Conrad, J.; Cutini, S.; D’Ammando, F.; de Angelis, A.; de Palma, F.; Dermer, C. D.; Digel, S. W.; Di Venere, L.; Drell, P. S.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Essig, R.; Favuzzi, C.; Fegan, S. J.; Ferrara, E. C.; Focke, W. B.; Franckowiak, A.; Fukazawa, Y.; Funk, S.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Germani, S.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, F.; Giroletti, M.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Gomez-Vargas, G. A.; Grenier, I. A.; Guiriec, S.; Gustafsson, M.; Hadasch, D.; Hayashida, M.; Hill, A. B.; Horan, D.; Hou, X.; Hughes, R. E.; Inoue, Y.; Izaguirre, E.; Jogler, T.; Kamae, T.; Knödlseder, J.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Larsson, S.; Latronico, L.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Malyshev, D.; Mayer, M.; Mazziotta, M. N.; McEnery, J. E.; Michelson, P. F.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Moiseev, A. A.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nakamori, T.; Nemmen, R.; Nuss, E.; Ohsugi, T.; Okumura, A.; Omodei, N.; Orienti, M.; Orlando, E.; Ormes, J. F.; Paneque, D.; Perkins, J. S.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Piron, F.; Pivato, G.; Rainò, S.; Rando, R.; Razzano, M.; Razzaque, S.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Romani, R. W.; Sánchez-Conde, M.; Schulz, A.; Sgrò, C.; Siegal-Gaskins, J.; Siskind, E. J.; Snyder, A.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Suson, D. J.; Tajima, H.; Takahashi, H.; Thayer, J. G.; Thayer, J. B.; Tibaldo, L.; Tinivella, M.; Tosti, G.; Troja, E.; Uchiyama, Y.; Usher, T. L.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Vasileiou, V.; Vianello, G.; Vitale, V.; Winer, B. L.; Wood, K. S.; Wood, M.; Yang, Z.; Zaharijas, G.; Zimmer, S.

    2013-10-22

    Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are a theoretical class of particles that are excellent dark matter candidates. WIMP annihilation or decay may produce essentially monochromatic γ rays detectable by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) against the astrophysical γ -ray emission of the Galaxy. We have searched for spectral lines in the energy range 5–300 GeV using 3.7 years of data, reprocessed with updated instrument calibrations and an improved energy dispersion model compared to the previous Fermi-LAT Collaboration line searches. We searched in five regions selected to optimize sensitivity to different theoretically motivated dark matter density distributions. We did not find any globally significant lines in our a priori search regions and present 95% confidence limits for annihilation cross sections of self-conjugate WIMPs and decay lifetimes. Our most significant fit occurred at 133 GeV in our smallest search region and had a local significance of 3.3 standard deviations, which translates to a global significance of 1.5 standard deviations. We discuss potential systematic effects in this search, and examine the feature at 133 GeV in detail. We find that the use both of reprocessed data and of additional information in the energy dispersion model contributes to the reduction in significance of the linelike feature near 130 GeV relative to significances reported in other works. We also find that the feature is narrower than the LAT energy resolution at the level of 2 to 3 standard deviations, which somewhat disfavors the interpretation of the 133 GeV feature as a real WIMP signal.

  9. The DarkSide-50 Experiment: Electron Recoil Calibrations and A Global Energy Variable

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hackett, Brianne Rae [Hawaii U.

    2017-01-01

    Over the course of decades, there has been mounting astronomical evidence for non-baryonic dark matter, yet its precise nature remains elusive. A favored candidate for dark matter is the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) which arises naturally out of extensions to the Standard Model. WIMPs are expected to occasionally interact with particles of normal matter through nuclear recoils. DarkSide-50 aims to detect this type of particle through the use of a two-phase liquid argon time projection chamber. To make a claim of discovery, an accurate understanding of the background and WIMP search region is imperative. Knowledge of the backgrounds is done through extensive studies of DarkSide-50's response to electron and nuclear recoils. The CALibration Insertion System (CALIS) was designed and built for the purpose of introduc- ing radioactive sources into or near the detector in a joint eort between Fermi National Laboratory (FNAL) and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. This work describes the testing, installation, and commissioning of CALIS at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. CALIS has been used in mul- tiple calibration campaigns with both neutron and sources. In this work, DarkSide-50's response to electron recoils, which are important for background estimations, was studied through the use of calibration sources by constructing a global energy variable which takes into account the anti- correlation between scintillation and ionization signals produced by interactions in the liquid argon. Accurately reconstructing the event energy correlates directly with quantitatively understanding the WIMP sensitivity in DarkSide-50. This work also validates the theoretically predicted decay spectrum of 39Ar against 39Ar decay data collected in the early days of DarkSide-50 while it was lled with atmospheric argon; a validation of this type is not readily found in the literature. Finally, we show how well the constructed energy variable can predict

  10. 7th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs (PATRAS 2011). Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zioutas, Konstantin; Schumann, Marc (eds.)

    2011-12-15

    The year 2011 was an exciting period to work on the ''dark side'' of the Universe. Several experimental claims of the direct detection of WIMP dark matter were challenged by the restrictive limits of several others. Dedicated experiments searching for axions, another well motivated dark matter candidate, and for axion-like particles continued to improve their limits and got an additional boost by puzzling astrophysical observations and new developments in theory. The LHC collected an unexpectedly large amount of data and started to produce results at an amazing speed. And finally, this year's Nobel price of physics was awarded to the observation of the accelerating expansion of the Universe, an effect which might be related to dark energy, whose nature remain among the biggest mysteries in physics. These exciting topics and many more important aspects of particle- and astroparticle physics were discussed between experimentalists and theorists at the 7th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs, and WISPs. The workshop took place from June 27 - July 1, 2011, in the Royal Myconian and Myconian Imperial Resorts Hotels on the Greek island of Mykonos. As in the previous years, it was a very fruitful and lively meeting in an inspiring and open atmosphere, which allowed for many open and constructive discussions also on controversial topics. The scientific exchange, the beautiful scenery of the island, the venue itself, the food, an excursion to the ancient ruins of Delos, and finally an amazing conference dinner made this meeting really unique. The ''spirit'' of the workshop and its atmosphere cannot be brought to paper, but many of its scientific highlights are collected in these proceedings. We are looking forward to the 8th Patras Workshop, which will be held in Chicago (USA) July 18-22, 2012. It will be organized jointly by our US colleagues Andrei Afanasev (JLAB), Oliver Baker (Yale), and William Wester (FNAL).

  11. Sterile neutrino dark matter with supersymmetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shakya, Bibhushan; Wells, James D.

    2017-08-01

    Sterile neutrino dark matter, a popular alternative to the WIMP paradigm, has generally been studied in non-supersymmetric setups. If the underlying theory is supersymmetric, we find that several interesting and novel dark matter features can arise. In particular, in scenarios of freeze-in production of sterile neutrino dark matter, its superpartner, the sterile sneutrino, can play a crucial role in early Universe cosmology as the dominant source of cold, warm, or hot dark matter, or of a subdominant relativistic population of sterile neutrinos that can contribute to the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom Neff during big bang nucleosynthesis.

  12. Direct detection of non-baryonic dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nollez, G.

    2003-01-01

    Baryonic matter, which constitutes stars and galaxies, amounts to a few percents of the mass of the universe in agreement with the theory of the big-bang nucleosynthesis. Most of the matter in the universe (approximately 85%) is then non-baryonic and dark. One of the most favoured hypothesis is that this non-baryonic dark matter is constituted by a new type, still undiscovered, of elementary weakly interacting massive particles (wimps). These hypothetical particles would appear as thermal relics from the big-bang era during which they were created. A rich spectrum of new elementary particles is predicted by supersymmetry, the lightest of which is the neutralino. If the dark matter halo of our Milky-way is made of neutralinos, their detection in terrestrial detectors should be possible. Neutralinos are coupled to matter through the electroweak interaction, this implies that the detection rate is extraordinary low. About 10 experiments in the world are dedicated to the search after wimps. A first group of experiments (HDMS, IGEX, DAMA and Zeplin) use 'classical' detectors of nuclear physics, germanium semiconductor diodes or NaI scintillators. A second group (CDMS, Edelweiss) gathers cryogenic phonon ionisation experiments and a third group (CRESST, Rosebud) is based on cryogenic phonon-light experiments. Till now no wimps has been clearly detected, the direct detection story is obviously not concluded, most of the future experiments aim to reach a sensitivity of 10 -44 cm 2 . (A.C.)

  13. Simulation of argon response and light detection in the DarkSide-50 dual phase TPC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Agnes, P.; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Alexander, T.; Alton, A. K.; Asner, D. M.; Back, H. O.; Biery, K.; Bocci, V.; Bonfini, G.; Bonivento, W.; Bossa, M.; Bottino, B.; Budano, F.; Bussino, S.; Cadeddu, M.; Cadoni, M.; Calaprice, F.; Canci, N.; Candela, A.; Caravati, M.; Cariello, M.; Carlini, M.; Catalanotti, S.; Cataudella, V.; Cavalcante, P.; Chepurnov, A.; Cicalò, C.; Cocco, A. G.; Covone, G.; D' Angelo, D.; D' Incecco, M.; Davini, S.; de Candia, A.; Cecco, S. De; Deo, M. De; Filippis, G. De; Vincenzi, M. De; Derbin, A. V.; Rosa, G. De; Devoto, A.; Eusanio, F. Di; Pietro, G. Di; Dionisi, C.; Edkins, E.; Empl, A.; Fan, A.; Fiorillo, G.; Fomenko, K.; Franco, D.; Gabriele, F.; Galbiati, C.; Giagu, S.; Giganti, C.; Giovanetti, G. K.; Goretti, A. M.; Granato, F.; Gromov, M.; Guan, M.; Guardincerri, Y.; Hackett, B. R.; Herner, K.; Hughes, D.; Humble, P.; Hungerford, E. V.; Ianni, An.; James, I.; Johnson, T. N.; Keeter, K.; Kendziora, C. L.; Koh, G.; Korablev, D.; Korga, G.; Kubankin, A.; Li, X.; Lissia, M.; Loer, B.; Longo, G.; Ma, Y.; Machado, A. A.; Machulin, I. N.; Mandarano, A.; Mari, S. M.; Maricic, J.; Martoff, C. J.; Meyers, P. D.; Milincic, R.; Monte, A.; Mount, B. J.; Muratova, V. N.; Musico, P.; Napolitano, J.; Agasson, A. Navrer; Oleinik, A.; Orsini, M.; Ortica, F.; Pagani, L.; Pallavicini, M.; Pantic, E.; Pelczar, K.; Pelliccia, N.; Pocar, A.; Pordes, S.; Pugachev, D. A.; Qian, H.; Randle, K.; Razeti, M.; Razeto, A.; Reinhold, B.; Renshaw, A. L.; Rescigno, M.; Riffard, Q.; Romani, A.; Rossi, B.; Rossi, N.; Sablone, D.; Sands, W.; Sanfilippo, S.; Savarese, C.; Schlitzer, B.; Segreto, E.; Semenov, D. A.; Singh, P. N.; Skorokhvatov, M. D.; Smirnov, O.; Sotnikov, A.; Stanford, C.; Suvorov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Testera, G.; Tonazzo, A.; Trinchese, P.; Unzhakov, E. V.; Verducci, M.; Vishneva, A.; Vogelaar, B.; Wada, M.; Walker, S.; Wang, H.; Wang, Y.; Watson, A. W.; Westerdale, S.; Wilhelmi, J.; Wojcik, M. M.; Xiang, X.; Xiao, X.; Yang, C.; Ye, Z.; Zhu, C.; Zuzel, G.

    2017-10-01

    Geant4-based Monte Carlo package named G4DS has been developed to simulate the response of DarkSide-50, an experiment operating since 2013 at LNGS, designed to detect WIMP interactions in liquid argon. In the process of WIMP searches, DarkSide-50 has achieved two fundamental milestones: the rejection of electron recoil background with a power of ~10^7, using the pulse shape discrimination technique, and the measurement of the residual 39Ar contamination in underground argon, ~3 orders of magnitude lower with respect to atmospheric argon.

  14. Selected recent results from AMANDA

    CERN Document Server

    Andrés, E; Bai, X; Barouch, G; Barwick, S W; Bay, R C; Becker, K H; Bergström, L; Bertrand, D; Bierenbaum, D; Biron, A; Booth, J; Botner, O; Bouchta, A; Boyce, M M; Carius, S; Chen, A; Chirkin, D; Conrad, J; Cooley, J; Costa, C G S; Cowen, D F; Dailing, J; Dalberg, E; De Young, T R; Desiati, P; Dewulf, J P; Doksus, P; Edsjö, J; Ekstrom, P; Erlandsson, B; Feser, T; Gaug, M; Goldschmidt, A; Goobar, A; Gray, L; Haase, H; Hallgren, A; Halzen, F; Hanson, K; Hardtke, R; He, Y D; Hellwig, M; Heukenkamp, H; Hill, G C; Hulth, P O; Hundertmark, S; Jacobsen, J; Kandhadai, V; Karle, A; Kim, J; Koci, B; Köpke, L; Kowalski, M; Leich, H; Leuthold, M; Lindahl, P; Liubarsky, I; Loaiza, P; Lowder, D M; Ludvig, J; Madsen, J; Marciniewski, P; Matis, H S; Mihályi, A; Mikolajski, T; Miller, T C; Minaeva, Y; Miocinovic, P; Mock, P C; Morse, R; Neunhoffer, T; Newcomer, F M; Niessen, P; Nygren, D R; Ogelman, H; Heros, C P D L; Porrata, R; Price, P B; Rawlins, K; Reed, C; Rhode, W; Richards, A; Richter, S; Martino, J R; Romenesko, P; Ross, D; Rubinstein, H; Sander, H G; Scheider, T; Schmidt, T; Schneider, D; Schneider, E; Schwarzl, R; Silvestri, A; Solarz, M; Spiczak, G M; Spiering, C; Starinsky, N; Steele, D; Steffen, P; Stokstad, R G; Streicher, O; Sun, A; Taboada, I; Thollander, L; Thon, T; Tilav, S; Usechak, N; Donckt, M V; Walck, C; Weinheimer, C; Wiebusch, C; Wischnewski, R; Wissing, H; Woschnagg, K; Wu, W; Yodh, G; Young, S

    2001-01-01

    We present a selection of results based on data taken in 1997 with the 302-PMT Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array-B10 ("AMANDA-B10") array. Atmospheric neutrinos created in the northern hemisphere are observed indirectly through their charged current interactions which produce relativistic, Cherenkov-light-emitting upgoing muons in the South Pole ice cap. The reconstructed angular distribution of these events is in good agreement with expectation and demonstrates the viability of this ice-based device as a neutrino telescope. Studies of nearly vertical upgoing muons limit the available parameter space for WIMP dark matter under the assumption that WIMPS are trapped in the earth's gravitational potential well and annihilate with one another near the earth's center.

  15. Limits on light WIMPs with a 1 kg-scale germanium detector at 160 eVee physics threshold at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Li-Tao; Li, Hau-Bin; Yue, Qian; Kang, Ke-Jun; Cheng, Jian-Ping; Li, Yuan-Jing; Tsz-King Wong, Henry; Aǧartioǧlu, M.; An, Hai-Peng; Chang, Jian-Ping; Chen, Jing-Han; Chen, Yun-Hua; Deng, Zhi; Du, Qiang; Gong, Hui; He, Li; Hu, Jin-Wei; Hu, Qing-Dong; Huang, Han-Xiong; Jia, Li-Ping; Jiang, Hao; Li, Hong; Li, Jian-Min; Li, Jin; Li, Xia; Li, Xue-Qian; Li, Yu-Lan; Lin, Fong-Kay; Lin, Shin-Ted; Liu, Shu-Kui; Liu, Zhong-Zhi; Ma, Hao; Ma, Jing-Lu; Pan, Hui; Ren, Jie; Ruan, Xi-Chao; Sevda, B.; Sharma, Vivek; Shen, Man-Bin; Singh, Lakhwinder; Singh, Manoj Kumar; Tang, Chang-Jian; Tang, Wei-You; Tian, Yang; Wang, Ji-Min; Wang, Li; Wang, Qing; Wang, Yi; Wu, Shi-Yong; Wu, Yu-Cheng; Xing, Hao-Yang; Xu, Yin; Xue, Tao; Yang, Song-Wei; Yi, Nan; Yu, Chun-Xu; Yu, Hai-Jun; Yue, Jian-Feng; Zeng, Xiong-Hui; Zeng, Ming; Zeng, Zhi; Zhang, Yun-Hua; Zhao, Ming-Gang; Zhao, Wei; Zhou, Ji-Fang; Zhou, Zu-Ying; Zhu, Jing-Jun; Zhu, Zhong-Hua; CDEX Collaboration

    2018-01-01

    We report results of a search for light weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter from the CDEX-1 experiment at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL). Constraints on WIMP-nucleon spin-independent (SI) and spin-dependent (SD) couplings are derived with a physics threshold of 160 eVee, from an exposure of 737.1 kg-days. The SI and SD limits extend the lower reach of light WIMPs to 2 GeV and improve over our earlier bounds at WIMP mass less than 6 GeV. Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0402200, 2017YFA0402201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11175099, 11275107, 11475117, 11475099, 11475092, 11675088), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2010CB833006). We thank the support of grants from the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program (20121088494, 20151080354) and the Academia Sinica Investigator Award 2011-15, contracts 103-2112-M-001-024 and 104-2112-M-001-038-MY3 from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.

  16. A study of nuclear recoil backgrounds in dark matter detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerdale, Shawn S.

    Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on the 1-1000 GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering off of nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating (alpha, n) yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and development

  17. A Study of Nuclear Recoil Backgrounds in Dark Matter Detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Westerdale, Shawn S. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on the $1-1000$ GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering from nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating ($\\alpha$, n)yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and

  18. Decaying Dark Matter at the LHC

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    We discuss a few scenarios with decaying Dark Matter and their prospect for detection at the LHC. First we present a simple minimal scenario, where Dark Matter is produced from the decay of a heavier colored or EW charged scalar via the FIMP or SuperWIMP mechanisms, then we discuss supersymmetric scenarios with RPV and gravitino DM, in particular a scenario allowing for simultaneous generation of DM and baryogenesis at a (relatively) low scale.

  19. On the Possible Links Between Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hambye, Thomas; Tytgat, Michel H. G.

    2009-01-01

    The mechanism behind electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) and the nature of dark matter (DM) are currently very important issues in particle physics. Usually, in most models, these two issues are not or poorly connected. However, since a natural dark matter candidate is a weakly interacting massive particle or WIMP, with mass around the electroweak scale, it is clearly of interest to investigate the possibility that DM and EWSB are closely related. In the context of a very simple extension of the Standard Model, the Inert Doublet Model, we show that dark matter could play a crucial role in the breaking of the electroweak symmetry. In this model, dark matter is the lightest component of an inert scalar doublet which can induce dynamically electroweak symmetry breaking at one loop level. Moreover, in a large fraction of the parameter space of this model, the mass of the dark matter particle is essentially determined by the electroweak scale, so that the fact that the WIMP DM mass is around the electroweak scale is not a coincidence.

  20. Searching for the annual modulation of dark matter signal with the GENIUS-TF experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tomei, C.; Dietz, A.; Krivosheina, I.; Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H.V.

    2003-01-01

    The annual modulation of the recoil spectrum observed in an underground detector is well known as the main signature of a possible WIMP signal. The GENIUS-TF experiment, under construction in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, can search for the annual modulation of the Dark Matter signal using 40 kg of naked-Ge detectors in liquid nitrogen. Starting from a set of data simulated under the hypothesis of modulation and using different methods, we show the potential of GENIUS-TF for extracting the modulated signal and the expected WIMP mass and WIMP cross-section

  1. Inelastic dark matter at DAMA, CDMS and Future Experiments

    OpenAIRE

    Smith, David R.; Weiner, Neal

    2002-01-01

    The DAMA annual modulation signature, interpreted as evidence for a spin-independent WIMP coupling, seems in conflict with null results from CDMS. However, in models of ``inelastic dark matter'', the experiments are compatible. Inelastic dark matter can arise in supersymmetric theories as the real component of a sneutrino mixed with a singlet scalar. In contrast with ordinary sneutrino dark matter, such particles can satisfy all experimental constraints while giving the appropriate relic abun...

  2. Radon-related Backgrounds in the LUX Dark Matter Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradley, A.; Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Coffey, T.; Currie, A.; de Viveiros, L.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Flores, C.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C.; Hertel, S. A.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Kazkaz, K.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Malling, D. C.; Mannino, R.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H.; Neves, F.; Ott, R. A.; Pangilinan, M.; Parker, P. D.; Pease, E. K.; Pech, K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Shutt, T.; Silva, C.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; O'Sullivan, K.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D.; Tennyson, B.; Tiedt, D. R.; Tripathi, M.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Walsh, N.; Webb, R.; White, J. T.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woods, M.; Zhang, C.

    The LUX detector is currently in operation at the Davis Campus at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD to directly search for WIMP dark matter. Knowing the type and rate of backgrounds is critical in a rare, low energy event search, and LUX was designed, constructed, and deployed to mitigate backgrounds, both internal and external. An important internal background are decays of radon and its daughters. These consist of alpha decays, which are easily tagged and are a tracer of certain backgrounds, and beta decays, some of which are not as readily tagged and present a background for the WIMP search. We report on studies of alpha decay and discuss implications for the WIMP search.

  3. Particle Physics Foundations of Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Inflation (2/3)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    Ninety-five percent of the present mass-energy density of the Universe is dark. Twenty-five percent is in the form of dark matter holding together galaxies and other large scale structures, and 70% is in the form of dark energy driving an accelerated expansion of the universe. Dark matter and dark energy cannot be explained within the standard model of particle physics. In the first lecture I will review the evidence for dark matter and the observations that point to an explanation in the form of cold dark matter. I will then describe the expected properties of a hypothetical Weakly-Interacting Massive Particle, or WIMP, and review experimental and observational approaches to test the hypothesis. Finally, I will discuss how the LHC might shed light on the problem. In the second lecture I will review the theoretical foundations and observational evidence that the dominant component of the present mass density of the Universe has a negative pressure, which leads to an accelerated expansion of the Universe...

  4. Particle Physics Foundations of Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Inflation (3/3)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    Ninety-five percent of the present mass-energy density of the Universe is dark. Twenty-five percent is in the form of dark matter holding together galaxies and other large scale structures, and 70% is in the form of dark energy driving an accelerated expansion of the universe. Dark matter and dark energy cannot be explained within the standard model of particle physics. In the first lecture I will review the evidence for dark matter and the observations that point to an explanation in the form of cold dark matter. I will then describe the expected properties of a hypothetical Weakly-Interacting Massive Particle, or WIMP, and review experimental and observational approaches to test the hypothesis. Finally, I will discuss how the LHC might shed light on the problem. In the second lecture I will review the theoretical foundations and observational evidence that the dominant component of the present mass density of the Universe has a negative pressure, which leads to an accelerated expansion of the Universe...

  5. Particle Physics Foundations of Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Inflation (1/3)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    Ninety-five percent of the present mass-energy density of the Universe is dark. Twenty-five percent is in the form of dark matter holding together galaxies and other large scale structures, and 70% is in the form of dark energy driving an accelerated expansion of the universe. Dark matter and dark energy cannot be explained within the standard model of particle physics. In the first lecture I will review the evidence for dark matter and the observations that point to an explanation in the form of cold dark matter. I will then describe the expected properties of a hypothetical Weakly-Interacting Massive Particle, or WIMP, and review experimental and observational approaches to test the hypothesis. Finally, I will discuss how the LHC might shed light on the problem. In the second lecture I will review the theoretical foundations and observational evidence that the dominant component of the present mass density of the Universe has a negative pressure, which leads to an accelerated expansion of the Universe...

  6. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and Background Rejection with Event Position Information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Gen-sheng

    2005-01-01

    Evidence from observational cosmology and astrophysics indicates that about one third of the universe is matter, but that the known baryonic matter only contributes to the universe at 4%. A large fraction of the universe is cold and non-baryonic matter, which has important role in the universe structure formation and its evolution. The leading candidate for the non-baryonic dark matter is Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which naturally occurs in the supersymmetry theory in particle physics. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is searching for evidence of a WIMP interaction off an atomic nucleus in crystals of Ge and Si by measuring simultaneously the phonon energy and ionization energy of the interaction in the CDMS detectors. The WIMP interaction energy is from a few keV to tens of keV with a rate less than 0.1 events/kg/day. To reach the goal of WIMP detection, the CDMS experiment has been conducted in the Soudan mine with an active muon veto and multistage passive background shields. The CDMS detectors have a low energy threshold and background rejection capabilities based on ionization yield. However, betas from contamination and other radioactive sources produce surface interactions, which have low ionization yield, comparable to that of bulk nuclear interactions. The low-ionization surface electron recoils must be removed in the WIMP search data analysis. An emphasis of this thesis is on developing the method of the surface-interaction rejection using location information of the interactions, phonon energy distributions and phonon timing parameters. The result of the CDMS Soudan run118 92.3 live day WIMP search data analysis is presented, and represents the most sensitive search yet performed

  7. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and Background Rejection with Event Position Information

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Gensheng [Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States). Dept. of Physics

    2005-01-01

    Evidence from observational cosmology and astrophysics indicates that about one third of the universe is matter, but that the known baryonic matter only contributes to the universe at 4%. A large fraction of the universe is cold and non-baryonic matter, which has important role in the universe structure formation and its evolution. The leading candidate for the non-baryonic dark matter is Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which naturally occurs in the supersymmetry theory in particle physics. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is searching for evidence of a WIMP interaction off an atomic nucleus in crystals of Ge and Si by measuring simultaneously the phonon energy and ionization energy of the interaction in the CDMS detectors. The WIMP interaction energy is from a few keV to tens of keV with a rate less than 0.1 events/kg/day. To reach the goal of WIMP detection, the CDMS experiment has been conducted in the Soudan mine with an active muon veto and multistage passive background shields. The CDMS detectors have a low energy threshold and background rejection capabilities based on ionization yield. However, betas from contamination and other radioactive sources produce surface interactions, which have low ionization yield, comparable to that of bulk nuclear interactions. The low-ionization surface electron recoils must be removed in the WIMP search data analysis. An emphasis of this thesis is on developing the method of the surface-interaction rejection using location information of the interactions, phonon energy distributions and phonon timing parameters. The result of the CDMS Soudan run118 92.3 live day WIMP search data analysis is presented, and represents the most sensitive search yet performed.

  8. 10th Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe

    CERN Document Server

    UCLA Dark Matter 2012

    2012-01-01

    These proceedings provide the latest results on dark matter and dark energy research. The UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted its tenth Dark Matter and Dark Energy conference in Marina del Rey and brought together all the leaders in the field. The symposium provided a scientific forum for the latest discussions in the field.  Topics covered at the symposium:  •Status of measurements of the equation of state of dark energy and new experiments •The search for missing energy events at the LHC and implications for dark matter search •Theoretical calculations on all forms of dark matter (SUSY, axions, sterile neutrinos, etc.) •Status of the indirect search for dark matter •Status of the direct search for dark matter in detectors around the world •The low-mass wimp search region •The next generation of very large dark matter detectors •New underground laboratories for dark matter search  

  9. Anisotropic dark matter distribution functions and impact on WIMP direct detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bozorgnia, Nassim; Schwetz, Thomas; Catena, Riccardo

    2013-01-01

    Dark matter N-body simulations suggest that the velocity distribution of dark matter is anisotropic. In this work we employ a mass model for the Milky Way whose parameters are determined from a fit to kinematical data. Then we adopt an ansatz for the dark matter phase space distribution which allows to construct self-consistent halo models which feature a degree of anisotropy as a function of the radius such as suggested by the simulations. The resulting velocity distributions are then used for an analysis of current data from dark matter direct detection experiments. We find that velocity distributions which are radially biased at large galactocentric distances (up to the virial radius) lead to an increased high velocity tail of the local dark matter distribution. This affects the interpretation of data from direct detection experiments, especially for dark matter masses around 10 GeV, since in this region the high velocity tail is sampled. We find that the allowed regions in the dark matter mass-cross section plane as indicated by possible hints for a dark matter signal reported by several experiments as well as conflicting exclusion limits from other experiments shift in a similar way when the halo model is varied. Hence, it is not possible to improve the consistency of the data by referring to anisotropic halo models of the type considered in this work

  10. Phenomenology of Dark Matter from radio to gamma ray frequencies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vollmann, Martin

    2015-07-01

    Multiwavelength astronomical observations have been proven to be of crucial relevance in understanding the most fundamental questions in physics. One of the biggest mysteries of nature is the existence of a (still) unidentified type of matter that makes up most of the material universe. Although little is known about its nature, it is very likely that this exotic Dark Matter (DM) is made of so-called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). In this thesis we investigate which strategies can best address the fundamental question: What is Dark Matter? Specifically, by following the ''WIMP'' paradigm as our guiding principle, we comprehensively discuss the phenomenology of prospective ''indirect'' detection scenarios of such WIMPs. Special consideration is given to extraterrestrial gamma rays and radio waves produced around the center of the Milky Way. In light of two recently highly debated claims of WIMP Dark Matter discovery, namely the 130 GeV gamma-ray line and the GeV gamma-ray excess, we invoke our methods to confront those hypotheses. In addition our study contains antiparticle cosmic-ray (antiproton and positron) data analyses. The phenomenology for indirect DM detection with these ''messengers'' is briefly discussed as well. By exploiting the high degree of symmetry of typical annihilating 2-WIMP initial states, we are able to employ a very powerful tool in theoretical particle physics: the generalized optical theorem. This theorem relates the amplitude of loop-suppressed processes, such as the 130 GeV line if interpreted as product of WIMP annihilations, with tree-level process which are constrained in the same way as with the GeV excess. Unprecedentedly reported analytical computations of partial-wave (and helicity) cross sections with general applicability are calculated and applied. The possibility that a non-trivial effect in the particle model for DM might enhance the strength of a gamma

  11. WIMP search in the mono-photon channel at the international linear collider

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Habermehl, Moritz [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg (Germany); Universitaet Hamburg, Institut fuer Experimentalphysik, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany); List, Jenny [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a planned electron-positron collider with √(s) tunable from 250 to 500 GeV, with a possible upgrade to 1 TeV. Besides precision measurements of the Higgs boson its physics goals comprise searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, e.g. searches for Dark Matter. This collider search assumes the production of WIMPs in pairs. They are not visible in the detector but the energy carried away can be observed via an additional (''tag'') particle. Photon emission from the initial state leads to the almost model independent signature: e{sup +}e{sup -} → χχγ. As this analysis tests couplings between WIMPs and leptons it is complementary to analogues searches at the LHC. A precise study is facilitated by the clean environment of lepton colliders with small systematics of electroweak backgrounds. While the conceptual feasibility and the sensitivity reach of the ILC have been shown in the past, this talk focusses on the consequences for the detector design. The requirements for the central detector as well as for the instrumentation of the forward region are discussed in the context of the ILD detector concept.

  12. The Limiting background in a dark matter search at shallow depth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perera, Thushara A. [Case Western Reserve U.

    2002-01-01

    A convincing body of evidence from observational and theoretical astrophysics suggests that matter in the universe is dominated by a non-luminous, non-baryonic, non-relativistic component. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are a proposed particle candidate that satisfy all of the above criteria. They are a front-runner among dark matter candidates because their predicted contribution to matter in the universe is cosmologically signicant and because they may arise naturally from supersymmetric (SUSY) models of particle physics. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) employs advanced detectors sensitive to nuclear recoils caused by WIMP scatters and capable of rejecting ionizing backgrounds. The rst phase of the experiment, conducted at a shallow site, is limited by a background of neutrons which are indistinguishable from WIMPs in terms of the acquired data. By accounting for and statistically subtracting these neutrons, CDMS I provides the best dark matter limits to date over a wide range of WIMP masses above 10 GeV/c2 . These results also exclude the signal region claimed by the DAMA annual modulation search at a >71% condence level. The second phase of the experiment, located at a deep site, is scheduled to begin data acquisition in 2002. Due to longer exposures, larger detector mass, and low background rates at this site, data from CDMS II are expected to improve on present WIMP sensitivity by about two orders of magnitude. Emphasized in this work are the research topics in which I have been directly involved. These include the work described in Chapters 3 and 5 with regard to the development and use of simulation tools, detailed studies into the limiting neutron background, and the present understanding of this background in relation to CDMS I and CDMS II. I was also involved in several detector development projects in preparation for CDMS II. Analysis of test data from a ZIP detector, planned for use in CDMS II, is presented in Chapter 6.

  13. First results from the LUX Dark Matter Experiment

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2013-01-01

    Discovery of the nature of dark matter is internationally recognized as one of the greatest contemporary challenges in science, fundamental to our understanding of the Universe. The most compelling candidates for dark matter are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that arise naturally in several models of physics beyond the Standard Model. The discovery of galactic WIMPs would therefore enlighten two of the outstanding problems of modern physics - the matter composition of the Universe and the extrapolation of the Standard Model of particle physics to GUT scales. Although no definitive signal has yet been discovered, the worldwide race towards direct detection has been dramatically accelerated by the remarkable progress and evolution of liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chambers (TPCs). They have shifted the scale of target mass by orders of magnitude whilst simultaneously reducing backgrounds to unprecedented low levels, becoming the leaders of the field and offering the most promising prospects fo...

  14. Optimizing EDELWEISS detectors for low-mass WIMP searches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnaud, Q.; Armengaud, E.; Augier, C.; Benoît, A.; Bergé, L.; Billard, J.; Broniatowski, A.; Camus, P.; Cazes, A.; Chapellier, M.; Charlieux, F.; de Jésus, M.; Dumoulin, L.; Eitel, K.; Foerster, N.; Gascon, J.; Giuliani, A.; Gros, M.; Hehn, L.; Jin, Y.; Juillard, A.; Kleifges, M.; Kozlov, V.; Kraus, H.; Kudryavtsev, V. A.; Le-Sueur, H.; Maisonobe, R.; Marnieros, S.; Navick, X.-F.; Nones, C.; Olivieri, E.; Pari, P.; Paul, B.; Poda, D.; Queguiner, E.; Rozov, S.; Sanglard, V.; Scorza, S.; Siebenborn, B.; Vagneron, L.; Weber, M.; Yakushev, E.; EDELWEISS Collaboration

    2018-01-01

    The physics potential of EDELWEISS detectors for the search of low-mass weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is studied. Using a data-driven background model, projected exclusion limits are computed using frequentist and multivariate analysis approaches, namely, profile likelihood and boosted decision tree. Both current and achievable experimental performances are considered. The optimal strategy for detector optimization depends critically on whether the emphasis is put on WIMP masses below or above ˜5 GeV /c2 . The projected sensitivity for the next phase of the EDELWEISS-III experiment at the Modane Underground Laboratory (LSM) for low-mass WIMP search is presented. By 2018 an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of σSI=7 ×10-42 cm2 is expected for a WIMP mass in the range 2 - 5 GeV /c2 . The requirements for a future hundred-kilogram-scale experiment designed to reach the bounds imposed by the coherent scattering of solar neutrinos are also described. By improving the ionization resolution down to 50 eVe e , we show that such an experiment installed in an even lower background environment (e.g., at SNOLAB) together with an exposure of 1 000 kg .yr , should allow us to observe about 80 B 8 neutrino events after discrimination.

  15. First Results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment at the Deep Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mandic, Vuk [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2004-06-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is designed to search for dark matter in the form of the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). For this purpose, CDMS uses detectors based on crystals of Ge and Si, operated at the temperature of 20 mK, and providing a two-fold signature of an interaction: the ionization and the athermal phonon signals. The two signals, along with the passive and active shielding of the experimental setup, and with the underground experimental sites, allow very effective suppression and rejection of different types of backgrounds. This dissertation presents the commissioning and the results of the first WIMP-search run performed by the CDMS collaboration at the deep underground site at the Soudan mine in Minnesota. We develop different methods of suppressing the dominant background due to the electron-recoil events taking place at the detector surface and we apply these algorithms to the data set. These results place the world's most sensitive limits on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent elastic-scattering cross-section. Finally, they examine the compatibility of the supersymmetric WIMP-models with the direct-detection experiments (such as CDMS) and discuss the implications of the new CDMS result on these models.

  16. Scalar Dark Matter From Theory Space

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Birkedal-Hansen, Andreas; Wacker, Jay G.

    2003-12-26

    The scalar dark matter candidate in a prototypical theory space little Higgs model is investigated. We review all details of the model pertinent to a relic density calculation. We perform a thermal relic density calculation including couplings to the gauge and Higgs sectors of the model. We find two regions of parameter space that give acceptable dark matter abundances. The first region has a dark matter candidate with a mass {Omicron}(100 GeV), the second region has a candidate with a mass greater than {Omicron}(500 GeV). The dark matter candidate in either region is an admixture of an SU(2) triplet and an SU(2) singlet, thereby constituting a possible WIMP (weakly interacting massive particle).

  17. An indirect search for dark matter using antideuterons: the GAPS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hailey, C J

    2009-01-01

    The general antiparticle spectrometer (GAPS) experiment is an indirect dark matter search. GAPS detects the antideuterons produced in WIMP-WIMP annihilation, a generic feature in many theories beyond the Standard Model. Antideuterons are a nearly background free signature of exotic physics. GAPS has substantial discovery potential for dark matter within the minimal supersymmetric model and its extensions, and models with universal extra dimensions. GAPS complements underground experiments, reaching parts of supersymmetric parameter space unavailable to them, and working to better constrain the properties of dark matter where they overlap in parameter space. GAPS is designed to be launched from a balloon. GAPS is funded for a prototype flight in 2011, to be followed by a long duration balloon flight to execute its science program. We discuss recent theoretical investigations on antideuteron searches, and their implications for experiment design. We describe the GAPS experiment placing particular emphasis on recent investigations that represent technical or conceptual extensions of the original GAPS concept.

  18. Wimps and stellar structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouquet, A.; Salati, P.

    1988-01-01

    We present the results of an analytic approximation to compute the effects of WIMPs on stellar structures in a self-consistent way. We examine in particular the case of the Sun and of horizontal branch stars

  19. Dark matter sensitivity of multi-ton liquid xenon detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schumann, Marc; Bütikofer, Lukas; Baudis, Laura; Kish, Alexander; Selvi, Marco

    2015-01-01

    We study the sensitivity of multi ton-scale time projection chambers using a liquid xenon target, e.g., the proposed DARWIN instrument, to spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon scattering interactions. Taking into account realistic backgrounds from the detector itself as well as from neutrinos, we examine the impact of exposure, energy threshold, background rejection efficiency and energy resolution on the dark matter sensitivity. With an exposure of 200 t × y and assuming detector parameters which have been already demonstrated experimentally, spin-independent cross sections as low as 2.5 × 10 −49 cm 2 can be probed for WIMP masses around 40 GeV/c 2 . Additional improvements in terms of background rejection and exposure will further increase the sensitivity, while the ultimate WIMP science reach will be limited by neutrinos scattering coherently off the xenon nuclei

  20. Results from the 1 tonne*year Dark Matter Search with XENON1T

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2018-01-01

    Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are an excellent candidate for the mysterious Dark Matter in the Universe. The XENON1T experiment at LNGS is the world’s largest and most sensitive experiment for the direct detection of WIMPs via nuclear recoils. Details of the experiment and of the achieved unprecedented low background conditions will be covered and new results from a record exposure of 1 tonne x year will be presented for the first time.

  1. Academic Training Lecture Regular Programme: Particle Physics Foundations of Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Inflation (1/3)

    CERN Multimedia

    2012-01-01

    Particle Physics Foundations of Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Inflation (1/3), by Dr. Edward (Rocky) Kolb (University of Chicago).   Wednesday, May 9, 2012 from 11:00 to 12:00 (Europe/Zurich) at CERN ( 500-1-001 - Main Auditorium ) Ninety-five percent of the present mass-energy density of the Universe is dark.  Twenty-five percent is in the form of dark matter holding together galaxies and other large scale structures, and 70% is in the form of dark energy driving an accelerated expansion of the universe.  Dark matter and dark energy cannot be explained within the standard model of particle physics.  In the first lecture I will review the evidence for dark matter and the observations that point to an explanation in the form of cold dark matter.  I will then describe the expected properties of a hypothetical Weakly-Interacting Massive Particle, or WIMP, and review experimental and observational approaches to test the hypothesis.  Finally, I will discus...

  2. Top-philic dark matter within and beyond the WIMP paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garny, Mathias; Heisig, Jan; Hufnagel, Marco; Lülf, Benedikt

    2018-04-01

    We present a comprehensive analysis of top-philic Majorana dark matter that interacts via a colored t -channel mediator. Despite the simplicity of the model—introducing three parameters only—it provides an extremely rich phenomenology allowing us to accommodate the relic density for a large range of coupling strengths spanning over 6 orders of magnitude. This model features all "exceptional" mechanisms for dark matter freeze-out, including the recently discovered conversion-driven freeze-out mode, with interesting signatures of long-lived colored particles at colliders. We constrain the cosmologically allowed parameter space with current experimental limits from direct, indirect and collider searches, with special emphasis on light dark matter below the top mass. In particular, we explore the interplay between limits from Xenon1T, Fermi-LAT and AMS-02 as well as limits from stop, monojet and Higgs invisible decay searches at the LHC. We find that several blind spots for light dark matter evade current constraints. The region in parameter space where the relic density is set by the mechanism of conversion-driven freeze-out can be conclusively tested by R -hadron searches at the LHC with 300 fb-1 .

  3. Partially acoustic dark matter, interacting dark radiation, and large scale structure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chacko, Zackaria [Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Maryland,Stadium Dr., College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Cui, Yanou [Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Maryland,Stadium Dr., College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California-Riverside,University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521 (United States); Perimeter Institute, 31 Caroline Street, North Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5 (Canada); Hong, Sungwoo [Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Maryland,Stadium Dr., College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Okui, Takemichi [Department of Physics, Florida State University,College Avenue, Tallahassee, FL 32306 (United States); Tsai, Yuhsinz [Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Maryland,Stadium Dr., College Park, MD 20742 (United States)

    2016-12-21

    The standard paradigm of collisionless cold dark matter is in tension with measurements on large scales. In particular, the best fit values of the Hubble rate H{sub 0} and the matter density perturbation σ{sub 8} inferred from the cosmic microwave background seem inconsistent with the results from direct measurements. We show that both problems can be solved in a framework in which dark matter consists of two distinct components, a dominant component and a subdominant component. The primary component is cold and collisionless. The secondary component is also cold, but interacts strongly with dark radiation, which itself forms a tightly coupled fluid. The growth of density perturbations in the subdominant component is inhibited by dark acoustic oscillations due to its coupling to the dark radiation, solving the σ{sub 8} problem, while the presence of tightly coupled dark radiation ameliorates the H{sub 0} problem. The subdominant component of dark matter and dark radiation continue to remain in thermal equilibrium until late times, inhibiting the formation of a dark disk. We present an example of a simple model that naturally realizes this scenario in which both constituents of dark matter are thermal WIMPs. Our scenario can be tested by future stage-IV experiments designed to probe the CMB and large scale structure.

  4. Partially acoustic dark matter, interacting dark radiation, and large scale structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chacko, Zackaria; Cui, Yanou; Hong, Sungwoo; Okui, Takemichi; Tsai, Yuhsinz

    2016-01-01

    The standard paradigm of collisionless cold dark matter is in tension with measurements on large scales. In particular, the best fit values of the Hubble rate H 0 and the matter density perturbation σ 8 inferred from the cosmic microwave background seem inconsistent with the results from direct measurements. We show that both problems can be solved in a framework in which dark matter consists of two distinct components, a dominant component and a subdominant component. The primary component is cold and collisionless. The secondary component is also cold, but interacts strongly with dark radiation, which itself forms a tightly coupled fluid. The growth of density perturbations in the subdominant component is inhibited by dark acoustic oscillations due to its coupling to the dark radiation, solving the σ 8 problem, while the presence of tightly coupled dark radiation ameliorates the H 0 problem. The subdominant component of dark matter and dark radiation continue to remain in thermal equilibrium until late times, inhibiting the formation of a dark disk. We present an example of a simple model that naturally realizes this scenario in which both constituents of dark matter are thermal WIMPs. Our scenario can be tested by future stage-IV experiments designed to probe the CMB and large scale structure.

  5. Installation of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnes, P.D. Jr.; California Univ., Berkeley; Da Silva, A.; British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC; Akerib, D.S.; California Univ., Berkeley

    1996-01-01

    We discuss the status of a cryogenic dark matter search beginning operation in the Stanford Underground Facility. The detectors will be cooled in a specially designed cryostat connected to a modified side access Oxford 400 dilution refrigerator. We discuss two detector designs and performance, the cryostat construction and operation, and the multi-level shield surrounding the cryostat. Finally, we will examine the limits which we will be able to set on WIMP dark matter with this experiment. (orig.)

  6. WARP: a double phase argon programme for dark matter detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrari, N

    2006-01-01

    WARP (Wimp ARgon Programme) is a double phase Argon detector for Dark Matter search under construction at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. We present recent results obtained operating a prototype with a sensitive mass of 2.3 litres deep underground

  7. Impact of Sommerfeld enhancement on helium reionization via WIMP dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandyopadhyay, Bidisha; Schleicher, Dominik R. G.

    2018-03-01

    Dark matter annihilation can have a strong impact on many astrophysical processes in the Universe. In the case of Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation cross sections, the annihilation rates are enhanced at late times, thus enhancing the potential annihilation signatures. We here calculate the Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation signatures during the epoch of helium reionization, the epoch where helium becomes fully ionized due to energetic photons. When considering the upper limits on the energy injection from the CMB, we find that the resulting abundance of He++ becomes independent of the dark matter particle mass. The resulting enhancement compared to a standard scenario is thus 1-2 orders of magnitude higher. For realistic scenarios compatible with CMB constraints, there is no significant shift in the epoch of helium reionization, which is completed between redshifts 3 and 4. While it is thus difficult to disentangle dark matter annihilation from astrophysical contributions (active galactic nuclei), a potential detection of dark matter particles and its interactions using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) would allow one to quantify the dark matter contribution.

  8. Simulation of argon response and light detection in the DarkSide-50 dual phase TPC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Agnes, P.; et al.

    2017-07-18

    A Geant4-based Monte Carlo package named G4DS has been developed to simulate the response of DarkSide-50, an experiment operating since 2013 at LNGS, designed to detect WIMP interactions in liquid argon. In the process of WIMP searches, DarkSide-50 has achieved two fundamental milestones: the rejection of electron recoil background with a power of ~10^7, using the pulse shape discrimination technique, and the measurement of the residual 39Ar contamination in underground argon, ~3 orders of magnitude lower with respect to atmospheric argon. These results rely on the accurate simulation of the detector response to the liquid argon scintillation, its ionization, and electron-ion recombination processes. This work provides a complete overview of the DarkSide Monte Carlo and of its performance, with a particular focus on PARIS, the custom-made liquid argon response model.

  9. Measurement of Nuclear Recoils in the CDMS II Dark Matter Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fallows, Scott M.

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is designed to directly detect elastic scatters of weakly-interacting massive dark matter particles (WIMPs), on target nuclei in semiconductor crystals composed of Si and Ge. These scatters would occur very rarely, in an overwhelming background composed primarily of electron recoils from photons and electrons, as well as a smaller but non-negligible background of WIMP-like nuclear recoils from neutrons. The CDMS~II generation of detectors simultaneously measure ionization and athermal phonon signals from each scatter, allowing discrimination against virtually all electron recoils in the detector bulk. Pulse-shape timing analysis allows discrimination against nearly all remaining electron recoils taking place near detector surfaces. Along with carefully limited neutron backgrounds, this experimental program allowed for "background-free'' operation of CDMS~II at Soudan, with less than one background event expected in each WIMP-search analysis. As a result, exclusionary upper-limits on WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section were placed over a wide range of candidate WIMP masses, ruling out large new regions of parameter space. These results, like any others, are subject to a variety of systematic effects that may alter their final interpretations. A primary focus of this dissertation will be difficulties in precisely calibrating the energy scale for nuclear recoil events like those from WIMPs. Nuclear recoils have suppressed ionization signals relative to electron recoils of the same recoil energy, so the response of the detectors is calibrated differently for each recoil type. The overall normalization and linearity of the energy scale for electron recoils in CDMS~II detectors is clearly established by peaks of known gamma energy in the ionization spectrum of calibration data from a 133Ba source. This electron-equivalent keVee) energy scale enables calibration of the total phonon signal (keVt) by enforcing unity

  10. Quark nugget dark matter: Comparison with radio observations of nearby galaxies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lawson, K., E-mail: klawson@phas.ubc.ca; Zhitnitsky, A.R.

    2016-06-10

    It has been recently claimed that radio observations of nearby spiral galaxies essentially rule out a dark matter source for the galactic haze [1]. Here we consider the low energy thermal emission from a quark nugget dark matter model in the context of microwave emission from the galactic centre and radio observations of nearby Milky Way like galaxies. We demonstrate that observed emission levels do not strongly constrain this specific dark matter candidate across a broad range of the allowed parameter space in drastic contrast with conventional dark matter models based on the WIMP paradigm.

  11. Improved Limits On The Existence Of Dark Matter. The Final Results From The PICASSO Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamaha, Alvine Christelle

    The final results of the PICASSO experiment, with 409 kg days of exposure collected from November 2012 to January 2014, have yielded new limits for Spin-Dependent and Spin-Independent Dark Matter interactions. The data collected and the various backgrounds were assiduously studied using Monte Carlo simulations and a new set of sophisticated analysis techniques including the wavelet analysis presented in this thesis. In general, a good suppression of most backgrounds was attained. The neutron background event rate was reduced to about a factor of 10 compared to the previous phase of the experiment. Electronic and acoustic noise events were thoroughly suppressed. A new class of "mystery events" were removed as well. All that remained was the irreducible alpha background. No signal consistent with a WIMP Dark Matter hypothesis was observed. Consequently, an exclusion curve was obtained with a minimum limit at 90% C.L. of sigmaSDchip = 0.0228 pb at a WIMP mass of 20 GeV/c2 in the Spin-Dependent sector. By combining results from 2012 and the current results, an improved constraint of sigmaSDchip (90% C.L.) = 0.0188 pb at 20 GeV/c2 was placed on the Dark Matter interaction with protons in the Fluorine nuclei used in the detectors. In addition, the new limits on WIMP-proton interactions in the Spin Independent sector exclude the DAMA/LIBRA results (at 90% C.L.) for low masses below 12 GeV/c2 and further constrain the published CRESST and CDMS Si discovery regions at low WIMP masses.

  12. Collider and dark matter searches in the inert doublet model from Peccei-Quinn symmetry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alves, Alexandre [Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra, Universidade Federal de São Paulo,Diadema-SP, 09972-270 (Brazil); Camargo, Daniel A.; Dias, Alex G. [Universidade Federal do ABC, Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas,09210-580, Santo André-SP (Brazil); Longas, Robinson [Instituto de Física, Universidad de Antioquia,Calle 70 No. 52-21, Medellín (Colombia); Nishi, Celso C. [Universidade Federal do ABC, Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição Naturais,09210-580, Santo André-SP (Brazil); Queiroz, Farinaldo S. [Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik,Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany)

    2016-10-04

    Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and axions are arguably the most compelling dark matter candidates in the literature. Could they coexist as dark matter particles? More importantly, can they be incorporated in a well motivated framework in agreement with experimental data? In this work, we show that this two component dark matter can be realized in the Inert Doublet Model in an elegant and natural manner by virtue of the spontaneous breaking of a Peccei-Quinn U(1){sub PQ} symmetry into a residual ℤ{sub 2} symmetry. The WIMP stability is guaranteed by the ℤ{sub 2} symmetry and a new dark matter component, the axion, arises. There are two interesting outcomes: (i) vector-like quarks needed to implement the Peccei-Quinn symmetry in the model may act as a portal between the dark sector and the SM fields with a supersymmetry-type phenomenology at colliders; (ii) two-component Inert Doublet Model re-opens the phenomenologically interesting 100–500 GeV mass region. We show that the model can successfully realize a two component dark matter framework and at the same time avoid low and high energy physics constraints such as monojet and dijet plus missing energy, as well as indirect and direct dark matter detection bounds.

  13. Generalized spin-dependent WIMP-nucleus interactions and the DAMA modulation effect

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scopel, Stefano; Yoon, Kook-Hyun; Yoon, Jong-Hyun, E-mail: scopel@sogang.ac.kr, E-mail: koreasds@naver.com, E-mail: pledge200@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Sogang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-07-01

    Guided by non-relativistic Effective Field Theory (EFT) we classify the most general spin-dependent interactions between a fermionic Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) and nuclei, and within this class of models we discuss the viability of an interpretation of the DAMA modulation result in terms of a signal from WIMP elastic scatterings using a halo-independent approach. We find that, although several relativistic EFT's can lead to a spin-dependent cross section, in some cases with an explicit, non-negligible dependence on the WIMP incoming velocity, three main scenarios can be singled out in the non-relativistic limit which approximately encompass them all, and that only differ by their dependence on the transferred momentum. For two of them compatibility between DAMA and other constraints is possible for a WIMP mass below 30 GeV, but only for a WIMP velocity distribution in the halo of our Galaxy which departs from a Maxwellian. This is achieved by combining a suppression of the WIMP effective coupling to neutrons (to evade constraints from xenon and germanium detectors) to an explicit quadratic or quartic dependence of the cross section on the transferred momentum (that leads to a relative enhancement of the expected rate off sodium in DAMA compared to that off fluorine in droplet detectors and bubble chambers). For larger WIMP masses the same scenarios are excluded by scatterings off iodine in COUPP.

  14. High-Energy Neutron Backgrounds for Underground Dark Matter Experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Yu [Syracuse Univ., NY (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Direct dark matter detection experiments usually have excellent capability to distinguish nuclear recoils, expected interactions with Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter, and electronic recoils, so that they can efficiently reject background events such as gamma-rays and charged particles. However, both WIMPs and neutrons can induce nuclear recoils. Neutrons are then the most crucial background for direct dark matter detection. It is important to understand and account for all sources of neutron backgrounds when claiming a discovery of dark matter detection or reporting limits on the WIMP-nucleon cross section. One type of neutron background that is not well understood is the cosmogenic neutrons from muons interacting with the underground cavern rock and materials surrounding a dark matter detector. The Neutron Multiplicity Meter (NMM) is a water Cherenkov detector capable of measuring the cosmogenic neutron flux at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, which has an overburden of 2090 meters water equivalent. The NMM consists of two 2.2-tonne gadolinium-doped water tanks situated atop a 20-tonne lead target. It detects a high-energy (>~ 50 MeV) neutron via moderation and capture of the multiple secondary neutrons released when the former interacts in the lead target. The multiplicity of secondary neutrons for the high-energy neutron provides a benchmark for comparison to the current Monte Carlo predictions. Combining with the Monte Carlo simulation, the muon-induced high-energy neutron flux above 50 MeV is measured to be (1.3 ± 0.2) ~ 10-9 cm-2s-1, in reasonable agreement with the model prediction. The measured multiplicity spectrum agrees well with that of Monte Carlo simulation for multiplicity below 10, but shows an excess of approximately a factor of three over Monte Carlo prediction for multiplicities ~ 10 - 20. In an effort to reduce neutron backgrounds for the dark matter experiment SuperCDMS SNO- LAB, an active neutron veto was developed

  15. Neutrino and dark matter physics with sub-keV germanium detectors

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2014-11-04

    Nov 4, 2014 ... the recent results on spin-independent couplings of light WIMPs from the ... the studies of low-energy neutrino and dark matter physics. .... vs. SAT. 12 (shaping time is 12 μs with partial integration) signals, for both calibration.

  16. Exploring the mirror matter interpretation of the DAMA experiment: Has the dark matter problem been solved?

    OpenAIRE

    Foot, R.

    2004-01-01

    The self consistency between the impressive DAMA annual modulation signal and the differential energy spectrum is an important test for dark matter candidates.Mirror matter-type dark matter passes this test while other dark matter candidates, including standard (spin-independent) WIMPs and mini-electric charged particle dark matter, do not do so well.We argue that the unique properties of mirror matter-type dark matter seem to be just those required to fully explain the data, suggesting that ...

  17. Building a better minimal supergravity: WIMP dark matter without flavor violation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Craig, Nathaniel J.; Green, Daniel

    2009-01-01

    The appearance of a natural dark matter candidate, the neutralino, is among the principal successes of minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) and its descendents. In lieu of a suitable ultraviolet completion, however, theories of gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking such as mSUGRA suffer from arbitrary degrees of flavor violation. Though theories of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking are free from such prohibitive flavor violation, they typically lack natural neutralino dark matter candidates. Yet this conventional dichotomy breaks down when the hidden sector is strongly coupled; in models of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, the neutralino may be the lightest supersymmetric particle if the fields of the hidden sector possess large anomalous dimensions. In fact, general models of so-called 'sequestered' gauge mediation possess the full richness of neutralino dark matter found in mSUGRA without corresponding flavor problems. Here we explore generalized models of sequestered gauge mediation and the rich variety of neutralino dark matter they exhibit.

  18. First Dark Matter Limits from a Large-Mass, Low-Background Superheated Droplet Detector

    CERN Document Server

    Collar, J.I.; Girard, T.A.; Limagne, D.; Miley, H.S.; Waysand, G.

    2000-01-01

    We report on the fabrication aspects and calibration of the first large active mass ($\\sim15$ g) modules of SIMPLE, a search for particle dark matter using Superheated Droplet Detectors (SDDs). While still limited by the statistical uncertainty of the small data sample on hand, the first weeks of operation in the new underground laboratory of Rustrel-Pays d'Apt already provide a sensitivity to axially-coupled Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) competitive with leading experiments, confirming SDDs as a convenient, low-cost alternative for WIMP detection.

  19. Exploring the dark side of the Universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Das, Mala

    2014-01-01

    Astronomical observations show that about 95% of the energy density of the Universe cannot be accounted for in terms of mass and energy of which about 26.8% is considered to be dark matter. The detection of this dark matter is one of the major and interesting unsolved problems in Physics. There are many experiments running worldwide at different underground laboratories for the direct detection of dark matter, mainly WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), the most favoured candidate of dark matter. Direct detection experiments expect to detect the dark matter directly by measuring the small energy imparted to recoil nuclei in occasional dark matter interactions with detector, stationed at earth's laboratory. In the subsequent sections, the challenges of such experiments are discussed followed by the details on PICASSO/PICO dark matter search experiment at SNO Lab, activities related to this experiment at SINP and the future direction of dark matter experiments

  20. Dark Matter Limits From a 2L C3F8 Filled Bubble Chamber

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robinson, Alan Edward [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

    2015-12-01

    The PICO-2L C3F8 bubble chamber search forWeakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter was operated in the SNOLAB underground laboratory at the same location as the previous CF3I lled COUPP-4kg detector. Neutron calibrations using photoneutron sources in C3F8 and CF3I lled calibration bubble chambers were performed to verify the sensitivity of these target uids to dark matter scattering. This data was combined with similar measurements using a low-energy neutron beam at the University of Montreal and in situ calibrations of the PICO-2L and COUPP-4kg detectors. C3F8 provides much greater sensitivity to WIMP-proton scattering than CF3I in bubble chamber detectors. PICO-2L searched for dark matter recoils with energy thresholds below 10 keV. Radiopurity assays of detector materials were performed and the expected neutron recoil background was evaluated to be 1.6+0:3

  1. A dark-matter search using the final CDMS II dataset and a novel detector of surface radiocontamination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahmed, Zeeshan [California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Substantial evidence from galaxies, galaxy clusters, and cosmological scales suggests that ~85% of the matter of our universe is invisible. The missing matter, or "dark matter" is likely composed of non-relativistic, non-baryonic particles, which have very rare interactions with baryonic matter and with one another. Among dark matter candidates, Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are particularly well motivated. In the early universe, thermally produced particles with weak-scale mass and interactions would `freeze out’ at the correct density to be dark matter today. Extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics, such as Supersymmetry, which solve gauge hierarchy and coupling unification problems, naturally provide such particles. Interactions of WIMPs with baryons are expected to be rare, but might be detectable in low-noise detectors. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment uses ionization- and phonon- sensitive germanium particle detectors to search for such interactions. CDMS detectors are operated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota, within a shielded environment to lower cosmogenic and radioactive background. The combination of phonon and ionization signatures from the detectors provides excellent residual-background rejection. This dissertation presents improved techniques for phonon calibration of CDMS II detectors and the analysis of the final CDMS II dataset with 612 kg-days of exposure. We set a limit of 3.8x10$^{-}$44 cm$^{2}$ on WIMP-nucleon spin-independent scattering cross section for a WIMP mass of 70 GeV/c$^{2}$. At the time this analysis was published, these data presented the most stringent limits on WIMP scattering for WIMP masses over 42 GeV/c$^{2}$, ruling out previously unexplored parameter space. Next-generation rare-event searches such as SuperCDMS, COUPP, and CLEAN will be limited in sensitivity, unless they achieve stringent control of the surface radioactive contamination on their detectors. Low

  2. Asymmetric condensed dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aguirre, Anthony; Diez-Tejedor, Alberto, E-mail: aguirre@scipp.ucsc.edu, E-mail: alberto.diez@fisica.ugto.mx [Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics and Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064 (United States)

    2016-04-01

    We explore the viability of a boson dark matter candidate with an asymmetry between the number densities of particles and antiparticles. A simple thermal field theory analysis confirms that, under certain general conditions, this component would develop a Bose-Einstein condensate in the early universe that, for appropriate model parameters, could survive the ensuing cosmological evolution until now. The condensation of a dark matter component in equilibrium with the thermal plasma is a relativistic process, hence the amount of matter dictated by the charge asymmetry is complemented by a hot relic density frozen out at the time of decoupling. Contrary to the case of ordinary WIMPs, dark matter particles in a condensate must be lighter than a few tens of eV so that the density from thermal relics is not too large. Big-Bang nucleosynthesis constrains the temperature of decoupling to the scale of the QCD phase transition or above. This requires large dark matter-to-photon ratios and very weak interactions with standard model particles.

  3. PICASSO, COUPP and PICO - search for dark matter with bubble chambers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amole C.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The PICASSO and COUPP collaborations use superheated liquid detectors to search for cold dark matter through the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs. These experiments, located in the underground laboratory of SNOLAB, Canada, detect phase transitions triggered by nuclear recoils in the keV range induced by interactions with WIMPs. We present details of the construction and operation of these detectors as well as the results, obtained by several years of observations. We also introduce PICO, a joint effort of the two collaborations to build a second generation ton-scale bubble chamber with 250 liters of active liquid.

  4. Cryogenic dark matter search (CDMS II): Application of neural networks and wavelets to event analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Attisha, Michael J. [Brown U.

    2006-01-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is designed to search for dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) via their elastic scattering interactions with nuclei. This dissertation presents the CDMS detector technology and the commissioning of two towers of detectors at the deep underground site in Soudan, Minnesota. CDMS detectors comprise crystals of Ge and Si at temperatures of 20 mK which provide ~keV energy resolution and the ability to perform particle identification on an event by event basis. Event identification is performed via a two-fold interaction signature; an ionization response and an athermal phonon response. Phonons and charged particles result in electron recoils in the crystal, while neutrons and WIMPs result in nuclear recoils. Since the ionization response is quenched by a factor ~ 3(2) in Ge(Si) for nuclear recoils compared to electron recoils, the relative amplitude of the two detector responses allows discrimination between recoil types. The primary source of background events in CDMS arises from electron recoils in the outer 50 µm of the detector surface which have a reduced ionization response. We develop a quantitative model of this ‘dead layer’ effect and successfully apply the model to Monte Carlo simulation of CDMS calibration data. Analysis of data from the two tower run March-August 2004 is performed, resulting in the world’s most sensitive limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section, with a 90% C.L. upper limit of 1.6 × 10-43 cm2 on Ge for a 60 GeV WIMP. An approach to performing surface event discrimination using neural networks and wavelets is developed. A Bayesian methodology to classifying surface events using neural networks is found to provide an optimized method based on minimization of the expected dark matter limit. The discrete wavelet analysis of CDMS phonon pulses improves surface event discrimination in conjunction with the neural

  5. Direct dark matter search by annual modulation in XMASS-I

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abe, K.; Hiraide, K.; Ichimura, K.; Kishimoto, Y.; Kobayashi, K.; Kobayashi, M.; Moriyama, S.; Nakahata, M.; Norita, T.; Ogawa, H.; Sekiya, H.; Takachio, O.; Takeda, A.; Yamashita, M.; Yang, B. S.; Kim, N. Y.; Kim, Y. D.; Tasaka, S.; Fushimi, K.; Liu, J.; Martens, K.; Suzuki, Y.; Xu, B. D.; Fujita, R.; Hosokawa, K.; Miuchi, K.; Onishi, Y.; Oka, N.; Takeuchi, Y.; Kim, Y. H.; Lee, J. S.; Lee, K. B.; Lee, M. K.; Fukuda, Y.; Itow, Y.; Kegasa, R.; Kobayashi, K.; Masuda, K.; Takiya, H.; Nishijima, K.; Nakamura, S.; Xmass Collaboration

    2016-08-01

    A search for dark matter was conducted by looking for an annual modulation signal due to the Earth's rotation around the Sun using XMASS, a single phase liquid xenon detector. The data used for this analysis was 359.2 live days times 832 kg of exposure accumulated between November 2013 and March 2015. When we assume Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter elastically scattering on the target nuclei, the exclusion upper limit of the WIMP-nucleon cross section 4.3 ×10-41 cm2 at 8 GeV/c2 was obtained and we exclude almost all the DAMA/LIBRA allowed region in the 6 to 16 GeV/c2 range at ∼10-40 cm2. The result of a simple modulation analysis, without assuming any specific dark matter model but including electron/γ events, showed a slight negative amplitude. The p-values obtained with two independent analyses are 0.014 and 0.068 for null hypothesis, respectively. We obtained 90% C.L. upper bounds that can be used to test various models. This is the first extensive annual modulation search probing this region with an exposure comparable to DAMA/LIBRA.

  6. Discovery potential for directional dark matter detection with nuclear emulsions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guler, A. M.; NEWSdm Collaboration

    2017-06-01

    Direct Dark Matter searches are nowadays one of the most exciting research topics. Several Experimental efforts are concentrated on the development, construction, and operation of detectors looking for the scattering of target nuclei with Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs). In this field a new frontier can be opened by directional detectors able to reconstruct the direction of the WIMP-recoiled nucleus thus allowing to extend dark matter searches beyond the neutrino floor. Exploiting directionality would also give a proof of the galactic origin of dark matter making it possible to have a clear and unambiguous signal to background separation. The angular distribution of WIPM-scattered nuclei is indeed expected to be peaked in the direction of the motion of the Solar System in the Galaxy, i.e. toward the Cygnus constellation, while the background distribution is expected to be isotropic. Current directional experiments are based on the use of gas TPC whose sensitivity is limited by the small achievable detector mass. In this paper we show the potentiality in terms of exclusion limit of a directional experiment based on the use of a solid target made by newly developed nuclear emulsions and read-out systems reaching sub-micrometric resolution.

  7. Dark Matter searches at ATLAS

    CERN Document Server

    Cortes-Gonzalez, Arely; The ATLAS collaboration

    2016-01-01

    If Dark Matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model it can be produced at the LHC. It can be identified via initial state radiation (ISR) of the incoming partons, leaving a signature in the detector of the ISR particle (jet, photon, Z or W) recoiling off of the invisible Dark Matter particles, resulting in a large momentum imbalance. Many signatures of large missing transverse momentum recoiling against jets, photons, heavy-flavor quarks, weak gauge bosons or Higgs bosons provide an interesting channel for Dark Matter searches. These LHC searches complement those from (in)direct detection experiments. Results of these searches with the ATLAS experiment, in both effective field theory and simplified models with pair WIMP production are discussed. Both 8TeV and 13TeV pp collision data has been used in these results.

  8. Low-energy neutrino and dark matter physics with sub-keV

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The TEXONO-CDEX Collaboration (Taiwan experiment on neutrino–China dark matter experiment) explores high-purity germanium (HPGe) detection technology to develop a sub-keV threshold detector for pursuing studies on low mass weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), properties of neutrino and the ...

  9. Consequences of a dark disk for the Fermi and PAMELA signals in theories with a Sommerfeld enhancement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cholis, Ilias; Goodenough, Lisa

    2010-01-01

    Much attention has been given to dark matter explanations of the PAMELA positron fraction and Fermi electronic excesses. For those theories with a TeV-scale WIMP annihilating through a light force-carrier, the associated Sommerfeld enhancement provides a natural explanation of the large boost factor needed to explain the signals, and the light force-carrier naturally gives rise to hard cosmic ray spectra without excess π 0 -gamma rays or anti-protons. The Sommerfeld enhancement of the annihilation rate, which at low relative velocities v rel scales as 1/v rel , relies on the comparatively low velocity dispersion of the dark matter particles in the smooth halo. Dark matter substructures in which the velocity dispersion is smaller than in the smooth halo have even larger annihilation rates. N-body simulations containing only dark matter predict the existence of such structures, for example subhalos and caustics, and the effects of these substructures on dark matter indirect detection signals have been studied extensively. The addition of baryons into cosmological simulations of disk-dominated galaxies gives rise to an additional substructure component, a dark disk. The disk has a lower velocity dispersion than the spherical halo component by a factor ∼ 6, so the contributions to dark matter signals from the disk can be more significant in Sommerfeld models than for WIMPs without such low-velocity ehancements. We consider the consequences of a dark disk on the observed signals of e + e − , p p-bar and γ-rays as measured by Fermi and PAMELA in models where the WIMP annihilations are into a light boson. We find that both the PAMELA and Fermi results are easily accomodated by scenarios in which a disk signal is included with the standard spherical halo signal. If contributions from the dark disk are important, limits from extrapolations to the center of the galaxy contain significant uncertainties beyond those from the spherical halo profile alone

  10. Freeze-in production of sterile neutrino dark matter in U(1){sub B−L} model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biswas, Anirban; Gupta, Aritra [Harish-Chandra Research Institute,Chhatnag Road, Jhunsi, Allahabad 211 019 (India)

    2016-09-27

    With the advent of new and more sensitive direct detection experiments, scope for a thermal WIMP explanation of dark matter (DM) has become extremely constricted. The non-observation of thermal WIMP in these experiments has put a strong upper bound on WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section and within a few years it is likely to overlap with the coherent neutrino-nucleon cross section. Hence in all probability, DM may have some non-thermal origin. In this work we explore in detail this possibility of a non-thermal sterile neutrino DM within the framework of U(1){sub B−L} model. The U(1){sub B−L} model on the other hand is a well-motivated and minimal way of extending the standard model so that it can explain the neutrino masses via Type-I see-saw mechanism. We have shown, besides explaining the neutrino mass, it can also accommodate a non-thermal sterile neutrino DM with correct relic density. In contrast with the existing literature, we have found that W{sup ±} decay can also be a dominant production mode of the sterile neutrino DM. To obtain the comoving number density of dark matter, we have solved here a coupled set of Boltzmann equations considering all possible decay as well as annihilation production modes of the sterile neutrino dark matter. The framework developed here though has been done for a U(1){sub B−L} model, can be applied quite generally for any models with an extra neutral gauge boson and a fermionic non-thermal dark matter.

  11. Direct and Indirect Dark Matter Detection in Gauge Theories

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Queiroz, Farinaldo [Federal Univ. of Paraba (Brazil)

    2013-01-01

    The Dark matter (DM) problem constitutes a key question at the interface among Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. The observational data which have been accumulated in the last years point to an existence of non baryonic amount of DM. Since the Standard Model (SM) does not provide any candidate for such non-baryonic DM, the evidence of DM is a major indication for new physics beyond the SM. We will study in this work one of the most popular DM candidates, the so called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) from a direct and indirect detection perspective. In order to approach the direct and indirect dection of DM in the context of Particle Physics in a more pedagogic way, we will begin our discussion talking about a minimal extension of the SM. Later we will work on the subject in a 3-3-1 model. Next, we will study the role of WIMPs in the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Lastly, we will look for indirect DM signals in the center of our galaxy using the NASA Satellite, called Fermi-LAT. Through a comprehensive analysis of the data events observed by Fermi-LAT and some background models, we will constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section for several annihilation channels and dark matter halo profiles.

  12. Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Dark Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergström, Lars

    This chapter presents the elaborated lecture notes on Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Dark Matter given by Lars Bergström at the 40th Saas-Fee Advanced Course on "Astrophysics at Very High Energies". One of the main problems of astrophysics and astro-particle physics is that the nature of dark matter remains unsolved. There are basically three complementary approaches to try to solve this problem. One is the detection of new particles with accelerators, the second is the observation of various types of messengers from radio waves to gamma-ray photons and neutrinos, and the third is the use of ingenious experiments for direct detection of dark matter particles. After giving an introduction to the particle universe, the author discusses the relic density of particles, basic cross sections for neutrinos and gamma-rays, supersymmetric dark matter, detection methods for neutralino dark matter, particular dark matter candidates, the status of dark matter detection, a detailled calculation on an hypothetical "Saas-Fee Wimp", primordial black holes, and gravitational waves.

  13. Bolometer's development for the detection of dark matter; Instrumentation autour de bolometres pour la recherche de matiere sombre WIMPs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yvon, D

    2000-06-01

    The author reviews his contributions to the use of bolometers (cryogenic detectors) for the detection of wimps (weakly interactive massive particles). Wimps are detected through their elastic scattering on the nuclei of the detector, a heat signal, luminescence or ionization can be simultaneously detected (at least 2 signals are necessary to discard photon interactions). Bolometers operate at low temperatures (< 50 mK) so they allow very low detection threshold and resolution (< keV) with a full energy conversion for recoiling nuclei. In Saclay the technology of bolometers based on simultaneous detection of heat and ionisation has been developed and improvements have been studied (NbSi thin films bolometers). The first results obtained in the framework of the Edelweiss collaboration are presented. Other developments based on infra-red bolometry (Planck surveyor and Archeops projects) are briefly described. In an appendix the operating principle of a bolometer is presented. (A.C.)

  14. Evading direct dark matter detection in Higgs portal models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arcadi, Giorgio [Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Gross, Christian, E-mail: christian.gross@helsinki.fi [Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Lebedev, Oleg [Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Pokorski, Stefan [Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 5, PL-02-093 Warsaw (Poland); Toma, Takashi [Physik-Department T30d, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

    2017-06-10

    Many models of Higgs portal Dark Matter (DM) find themselves under pressure from increasingly tight direct detection constraints. In the framework of gauge field DM, we study how such bounds can be relaxed while retaining the thermal WIMP paradigm. When the hidden sector gauge symmetry is broken via the Higgs mechanism, the hidden sector generally contains unstable states which are lighter than dark matter. These states provide DM with an efficient annihilation channel. As a result, the DM relic abundance and the direct detection limits are controlled by different parameters, and the two can easily be reconciled. This simple setup realizes the idea of “secluded” dark matter naturally.

  15. Proposal to the Gran Sasso Laboratory for a dark matter search using cryogenic detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooper, S.; Colling, P.; Ferger, P.; Frank, M.; Gebauer, H.J.; Nagel, U.; Nucciotti, A.; Proebst, F.; Rulofs, A.; Seidel, W.; Stodolsky, L.; Feilitzsch, F. v.; Forster, G.; Hallatschek, K.; Kellner, E.

    1993-11-01

    We request space and support from the Gran Sasso Laboratory for an experiment searching for dark matter WIMPs using cryogenic detectors. Our experiment is complementary to other dark matter searches in that it extends the sensitivity for WIMPs to the mass range below 10 GeV and that different target materials can be used within the same setup. The proposed experiment uses in the first stage a detector consisting of 1 kg of sapphire with a threshold of 0.5 keV and a resolution of 0.2 keV at 1 keV. The detector would be run at a temperature of 15-30 mK within a low-background setup. The first stage could be installed in 1995. The proposed setup allows for future expansion of the detector to 10-100 kg without major changes. (orig.)

  16. Background and technical studies for GENIUS as a dark matter experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baudis, L.; Heusser, G.; Majorovits, B.; Ramachers, Y.; Strecker, H.; Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H.V.

    1999-01-01

    The GENIUS project is a proposal for a new dark matter detector, with an increased sensitivity of three orders of magnitude relative to existing direct dark matter detection experiments. We performed a technical study and calculated the main background sources for the relevant energy region in a detailed detector geometry. The achieved overall background level and detector performance confirm the outstanding potential of GENIUS as a powerful tool for the direct search of WIMPs in our Galaxy

  17. The inert doublet model: a new archetype of WIMP dark matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tytgat, M Hg

    2008-01-01

    The Inert Doublet Model (IDM) is a two doublet extension of the Higgs-Brout-Englert sector of the Standard Model with a Z2 symmetry in order to prevent FCNC. If the Z2 symmetry is not spontaneously broken, the lightest neutral extra scalar is a dark matter candidate. We briefly review the phenomenology of the model, emphasizing its relevance for the issue of Electroweak Symmetry Breaking (EWSB) and the prospects for detection of dark matter

  18. Is dark matter visible by galactic gamma rays?

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The EGRET excess in the diffuse galactic gamma ray data above 1 GeV shows all features expected from dark matter WIMP annihilation: (a) It is present and has the same spectrum in all sky directions, not just in the galactic plane. (b) The intensity of the excess shows the 1/2 profile expected for a flat rotation curve outside ...

  19. Is dark matter visible by galactic gamma rays?

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. The EGRET excess in the diffuse galactic gamma ray data above 1 GeV shows all features expected from dark matter WIMP annihilation: (a) It is present and has the same spectrum in all sky directions, not just in the galactic plane. (b) The intensity of the excess shows the 1/r2 profile expected for a flat rotation ...

  20. Ionization Collection in Detectors of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Phipps, Arran T.J. [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Determining the composition of dark matter is at the forefront of modern scientific research. There is compelling evidence for the existence of vast quantities of dark matter throughout the universe, however it has so-far eluded all direct detection efforts and its identity remains a mystery. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are a favored dark matter candidate and have been the primary focus of direct detection for several decades. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) has developed the Z-dependent Ionization and Phonon (ZIP) detector to search for such particles. Typically made from germanium, these detectors are capable of distinguishing between electromagnetic background and a putative WIMP signal through the simultaneous measurement of ionization and phonons produced by scattering events. CDMS has operated several arrays of these detectors at the Soudan Underground Laboratory (Soudan, MN, USA) resulting in many competitive (often world-leading) WIMP exclusion limits. This dissertation focuses on ionization collection in these detectors under the sub-Kelvin, low electric field, and high crystal purity conditions unique to CDMS. The design and performance of a fully cryogenic HEMT-based amplifier capable of achieving the SuperCDMS SNOLAB ionization energy resolution goal of 100 eVee is presented. The experimental apparatus which has been used to record electron and hole properties under CDMS conditions is described. Measurements of charge transport, trapping, and impact ionization as a function of electric field in two CDMS detectors are shown, and the ionization collection efficiency is determined. The data is used to predict the error in the nuclear recoil energy scale under both CDMSlite and iZIP operating modes. A two species, two state model is developed to describe how ionization collection and space charge generation in CDMS detectors are controlled by the presence of “overcharged” D- donor and A+ acceptor impurity states. The thermal

  1. The local dark matter phase-space density and impact on WIMP direct detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Catena, Riccardo; Ullio, Piero

    2012-01-01

    We present a new determination of the local dark matter phase-space density. This result is obtained implementing, in the limit of isotropic velocity distribution and spherical symmetry, Eddington's inversion formula, which links univocally the dark matter distribution function to the density profile, and applying, within a Bayesian framework, a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm to sample mass models for the Milky Way against a broad and variegated sample of dynamical constraints. We consider three possible choices for the dark matter density profile, namely the Einasto, NFW and Burkert profiles, finding that the velocity dispersion, which characterizes the width in the distribution, tends to be larger for the Burkert case, while the escape velocity depends very weakly on the profile, with the mean value we obtain being in very good agreement with estimates from stellar kinematics. The derived dark matter phase-space densities differ significantly — most dramatically in the high velocity tails — from the model usually taken as a reference in dark matter detection studies, a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution with velocity dispersion fixed in terms of the local circular velocity and with a sharp truncation at a given value of the escape velocity. We discuss the impact of astrophysical uncertainties on dark matter scattering rates and direct detection exclusion limits, considering a few sample cases and showing that the most sensitive ones are those for light dark matter particles and for particles scattering inelastically. As a general trend, regardless of the assumed profile, when adopting a self-consistent phase-space density, we find that rates are larger, and hence exclusion limits stronger, than with the standard Maxwell-Boltzmann approximation. Tools for applying our result on the local dark matter phase-space density to other dark matter candidates or experimental setups are provided

  2. Accurate calculations of the WIMP halo around the Sun and prospects for its gamma-ray detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sivertsson, Sofia; Edsjoe, Joakim

    2010-01-01

    Galactic weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) may scatter off solar nuclei to orbits gravitationally bound to the Sun. Once bound, the WIMPs continue to lose energy by repeated scatters in the Sun, eventually leading to complete entrapment in the solar interior. While the density of the bound population is highest at the center of the Sun, the only observable signature of WIMP annihilations inside the Sun is neutrinos. It has been previously suggested that although the density of WIMPs just outside the Sun is lower than deep inside, gamma rays from WIMP annihilation just outside the surface of the Sun, in the so-called WIMP halo around the Sun, may be more easily detected. We here revisit this problem using detailed Monte Carlo simulations and detailed composition and structure information about the Sun to estimate the size of the gamma-ray flux. Compared to earlier simpler estimates, we find that the gamma-ray flux from WIMP annihilations in the solar WIMP halo would be negligible; no current or planned detectors would be able to detect this flux.

  3. Annual modulation of dark matter in the presence of streams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Savage, Chris; Freese, Katherine; Gondolo, Paolo

    2006-01-01

    In addition to a smooth component of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter in galaxies, there may be streams of material; the effects of WIMP streams on direct detection experiments is examined in this paper. The contribution to the count rate due to the stream cuts off at some characteristic energy. Near this cutoff energy, the stream contribution to the annual modulation of recoils in the detector is comparable to that of the thermalized halo, even if the stream represents only a small portion (∼5% or less) of the local halo density. Consequently the total modulation may be quite different than would be expected for the standard halo model alone: it may not be cosinelike and can peak at a different date than expected. The effects of speed, direction, density, and velocity dispersion of a stream on the modulation are examined. We describe how the observation of a modulation can be used to determine these stream parameters. Alternatively, the presence of a dropoff in the recoil spectrum can be used to determine the WIMP mass if the stream speed is known. The annual modulation of the cutoff energy together with the annual modulation of the overall signal provide a 'smoking gun' for WIMP detection

  4. Conservative constraints on dark matter from the Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background spectrum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abazajian, Kevork N.; Agrawal, Prateek; Chacko, Zackaria [Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 (United States); Kilic, Can, E-mail: kev@umd.edu, E-mail: apr@umd.edu, E-mail: zchacko@umd.edu, E-mail: kilic@physics.rutgers.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States)

    2010-11-01

    We examine the constraints on final state radiation from Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter candidates annihilating into various standard model final states, as imposed by the measurement of the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background by the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. The expected isotropic diffuse signal from dark matter annihilation has contributions from the local Milky Way (MW) as well as from extragalactic dark matter. The signal from the MW is very insensitive to the adopted dark matter profile of the halos, and dominates the signal from extragalactic halos, which is sensitive to the low mass cut-off of the halo mass function. We adopt a conservative model for both the low halo mass survival cut-off and the substructure boost factor of the Galactic and extragalactic components, and only consider the primary final state radiation. This provides robust constraints which reach the thermal production cross-section for low mass WIMPs annihilating into hadronic modes. We also reanalyze limits from HESS observations of the Galactic Ridge region using a conservative model for the dark matter halo profile. When combined with the HESS constraint, the isotropic diffuse spectrum rules out all interpretations of the PAMELA positron excess based on dark matter annihilation into two lepton final states. Annihilation into four leptons through new intermediate states, although constrained by the data, is not excluded.

  5. Conservative constraints on dark matter from the Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abazajian, Kevork N.; Agrawal, Prateek; Chacko, Zackaria; Kilic, Can

    2010-01-01

    We examine the constraints on final state radiation from Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter candidates annihilating into various standard model final states, as imposed by the measurement of the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background by the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. The expected isotropic diffuse signal from dark matter annihilation has contributions from the local Milky Way (MW) as well as from extragalactic dark matter. The signal from the MW is very insensitive to the adopted dark matter profile of the halos, and dominates the signal from extragalactic halos, which is sensitive to the low mass cut-off of the halo mass function. We adopt a conservative model for both the low halo mass survival cut-off and the substructure boost factor of the Galactic and extragalactic components, and only consider the primary final state radiation. This provides robust constraints which reach the thermal production cross-section for low mass WIMPs annihilating into hadronic modes. We also reanalyze limits from HESS observations of the Galactic Ridge region using a conservative model for the dark matter halo profile. When combined with the HESS constraint, the isotropic diffuse spectrum rules out all interpretations of the PAMELA positron excess based on dark matter annihilation into two lepton final states. Annihilation into four leptons through new intermediate states, although constrained by the data, is not excluded

  6. Dark matter and global symmetries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yann Mambrini

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available General considerations in general relativity and quantum mechanics are known to potentially rule out continuous global symmetries in the context of any consistent theory of quantum gravity. Assuming the validity of such considerations, we derive stringent bounds from gamma-ray, X-ray, cosmic-ray, neutrino, and CMB data on models that invoke global symmetries to stabilize the dark matter particle. We compute up-to-date, robust model-independent limits on the dark matter lifetime for a variety of Planck-scale suppressed dimension-five effective operators. We then specialize our analysis and apply our bounds to specific models including the Two-Higgs-Doublet, Left–Right, Singlet Fermionic, Zee–Babu, 3-3-1 and Radiative See-Saw models. Assuming that (i global symmetries are broken at the Planck scale, that (ii the non-renormalizable operators mediating dark matter decay have O(1 couplings, that (iii the dark matter is a singlet field, and that (iv the dark matter density distribution is well described by a NFW profile, we are able to rule out fermionic, vector, and scalar dark matter candidates across a broad mass range (keV–TeV, including the WIMP regime.

  7. EDELWEISS-II, direct Dark Matter search experiment: first data analysis and results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scorza, Silvia

    2009-01-01

    relies in the measurement of nuclear recoils that produce measurable effects in the crystal such ionization and heat. My PhD thesis is organized as follows. The first chapter aims to provide an introduction to the theoretical framework and the scientific motivation for the following work. The nature of DM has been one of the most challenging topics in contemporary physics since the first evidences of its existence had been found in the 1930's. Cosmologists and astrophysicists on one side, together with particle theorists on the other have put a lot of effort into this field: I will briefly account for their achievements and for the experimental strategies which can be set in this scenario. Since this thesis work was carried out within the EDELWEISS-II direct dark matter experiment, I will focus the next chapter on this topic, describing the main features. The second chapter is related to the set-up of the EDELWEISS-II, the current stage of the EDELWEISS experiment necessary after a first phase that achieved the best upper limit on the WIMP elastic scattering on nucleon as a function of WIMP mass in 2004. The set-up was conceived to reduce radioactive background observed in the first experiment phase. Thus, describing the starting point for this second stage, I will present detectors involved in, with a peculiar regard to the Ge-NTD type, the same implied in EDELWEISS-I, on which I have focused my thesis work. In the third chapter the performed Ge-NTD analysis chain is presented. Starting with the signal processing of the recorded data, I will enter in the essential analysis steps from calibration signals passing through measurements of thresholds and resolutions in order to predict nuclear and electronic recoil band and definition of fiducial zone to conclude determining a selection for likely WIMP candidate. These suggestions are applied in the fourth chapter, which presents the analysis and the results of the 8. cool down that takes places from November 2007 to March

  8. Planckian Interacting Massive Particles as Dark Matter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garny, Mathias; Sandora, McCullen; Sloth, Martin S.

    2016-01-01

    . In this case the WIMP miracle is a mirage, and instead minimality as dictated by Occam's razor would indicate that dark matter is related to the Planck scale, where quantum gravity is anyway expected to manifest itself. Assuming within this framework that dark matter is a Planckian Interacting Massive Particle......, we show that the most natural mass larger than $0.01\\,\\textrm{M}_p$ is already ruled out by the absence of tensor modes in the CMB. This also indicates that we expect tensor modes in the CMB to be observed soon for this type of minimal dark matter model. Finally, we touch upon the KK graviton mode...... as a possible realization of this scenario within UV complete models, as well as further potential signatures and peculiar properties of this type of dark matter candidate. This paradigm therefore leads to a subtle connection between quantum gravity, the physics of primordial inflation, and the nature of dark...

  9. 6th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs (PATRAS 2010). Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baudis, Laura; Schumann, Marc (eds.)

    2010-11-15

    The following topics were dealt with: Axions, WIMPs, WISPs, and neutrinos in the universe, laboratory experimental searching for WISPs, astrophysical experimental searching for WISPs, direct and indirect detection of WIMPs, new ideas and developments, visions, large laboratories. (HSI)

  10. 6th Patras workshop on axions, WIMPs and WISPs (PATRAS 2010). Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baudis, Laura; Schumann, Marc

    2010-11-01

    The following topics were dealt with: Axions, WIMPs, WISPs, and neutrinos in the universe, laboratory experimental searching for WISPs, astrophysical experimental searching for WISPs, direct and indirect detection of WIMPs, new ideas and developments, visions, large laboratories. (HSI)

  11. Analyzing direct dark matter detection data with unrejected background events by the AMIDAS website

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shan, Chung-Lin

    2012-01-01

    In this talk I have presented the data analysis results of extracting properties of halo WIMPs: the mass and the (ratios between the) spin-independent and spin-dependent couplings/cross sections on nucleons by the AMIDAS website by taking into account possible unrejected background events in the analyzed data sets. Although non-standard astronomical setup has been used to generate pseudodata sets for our analyses, it has been found that, without prior information/assumption about the local density and velocity distribution of halo Dark Matter, these WIMP properties have been reconstructed with ∼ 2% to ∼< 30% deviations from the input values.

  12. DarkSide-20k: A 20 Tonne Two-Phase LAr TPC for Direct Dark Matter Detection at LNGS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aalseth, C.E.; et al.

    2017-07-25

    Building on the successful experience in operating the DarkSide-50 detector, the DarkSide Collaboration is going to construct DarkSide-20k, a direct WIMP search detector using a two-phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) with an active (fiducial) mass of 23 t (20 t). The DarkSide-20k LArTPC will be deployed within a shield/veto with a spherical Liquid Scintillator Veto (LSV) inside a cylindrical Water Cherenkov Veto (WCV). Operation of DarkSide-50 demonstrated a major reduction in the dominant $^{39}$Ar background when using argon extracted from an underground source, before applying pulse shape analysis. Data from DarkSide-50, in combination with MC simulation and analytical modeling, shows that a rejection factor for discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils of $\\gt3\\times10^9$ is achievable. This, along with the use of the veto system, is the key to unlocking the path to large LArTPC detector masses, while maintaining an "instrumental background-free" experiment, an experiment in which less than 0.1 events (other than $\

  13. Dark matter annihilations search in dwarf spheroidal galaxies with fermi

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farnier, C.; Nuss, E.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.

    2011-01-01

    Launched in June 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope includes a pair conversion detector designed for the 20 MeV to ∼300GeV gamma-ray sky study, the Large Area Telescope (LAT). Operating in all-sky survey mode, its excellent sensitivity and angular resolution will allow either to discover or constrain a signal coming through the annihilation of dark matter particles. Predicted by cold dark matter scenarios as the largest clumps, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are amongst the most attractive targets for indirect search of dark matter by gamma-ray experiments. We present here an overview of the Fermi LAT Dark Matter and New Physics Working Group efforts in the searches of gamma-ray fluxes coming from WIMP pair annihilations in dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

  14. Design and Construction of Prototype Dark Matter Detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peter Fisher

    2012-03-23

    The Lepton Quark Studies (LQS) group is engaged in searching for dark matter using the Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) (Carlsbad, NM). DMTPC is a direction-sensitive dark matter detector designed to measure the recoil direction and energy deposited by fluorine nuclei recoiling from the interaction with incident WIMPs. In the past year, the major areas of progress have been: to publish the first dark matter search results from a surface run of the DMTPC prototype detector, to build and install the 10L prototype in the underground laboratory at WIPP which will house the 1 m{sup 3} detector, and to demonstrate charge and PMT readout of the TPC using prototype detectors, which allow triggering and {Delta}z measurement to be used in the 1 m{sup 3} detector under development.

  15. Limits on Spin-Dependent WIMP-Nucleon Cross Section Obtained from the Complete LUX Exposure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akerib, D. S.; Alsum, S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Beltrame, P.; Bernard, E. P.; Bernstein, A.; Biesiadzinski, T. P.; Boulton, E. M.; Brás, P.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Currie, A.; Cutter, J. E.; Davison, T. J. R.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J. E. Y.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B. N.; Faham, C. H.; Fallon, S. R.; Fiorucci, S.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C. R.; Hanhardt, M.; Haselschwardt, S. J.; Hertel, S. A.; Hogan, D. P.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ignarra, C. M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Ji, W.; Kamdin, K.; Kazkaz, K.; Khaitan, D.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lenardo, B. G.; Lesko, K. T.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Manalaysay, A.; Mannino, R. L.; Marzioni, M. F.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J. A.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H. N.; Neves, F.; O'Sullivan, K.; Oliver-Mallory, K. C.; Palladino, K. J.; Pease, E. K.; Reichhart, L.; Rhyne, C.; Shaw, S.; Shutt, T. A.; Silva, C.; Solmaz, M.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; Stephenson, S.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D. J.; Taylor, W. C.; Tennyson, B. P.; Terman, P. A.; Tiedt, D. R.; To, W. H.; Tripathi, M.; Tvrznikova, L.; Uvarov, S.; Velan, V.; Verbus, J. R.; Webb, R. C.; White, J. T.; Whitis, T. J.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Xu, J.; Yazdani, K.; Young, S. K.; Zhang, C.; LUX Collaboration

    2017-06-01

    We present experimental constraints on the spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon elastic cross sections from the total 129.5 kg yr exposure acquired by the Large Underground Xenon experiment (LUX), operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota (USA). A profile likelihood ratio analysis allows 90% C.L. upper limits to be set on the WIMP-neutron (WIMP-proton) cross section of σn=1.6 ×10-41 cm2 (σp=5 ×10-40 cm2 ) at 35 GeV c-2 , almost a sixfold improvement over the previous LUX spin-dependent results. The spin-dependent WIMP-neutron limit is the most sensitive constraint to date.

  16. Heavy Higgs boson production at colliders in the singlet-triplet scotogenic dark matter model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díaz, Marco Aurelio; Rojas, Nicolás; Urrutia-Quiroga, Sebastián; Valle, José W. F.

    2017-08-01

    We consider the possibility that the dark matter particle is a scalar WIMP messenger associated to neutrino mass generation, made stable by the same symmetry responsible for the radiative origin of neutrino mass. We focus on some of the implications of this proposal as realized within the singlet-triplet scotogenic dark matter model. We identify parameter sets consistent both with neutrino mass and the observed dark matter abundance. Finally we characterize the expected phenomenological profile of heavy Higgs boson physics at the LHC as well as at future linear Colliders.

  17. Deep Underground Science and Engineering Lab: S1 Dark Matter Working Group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akerib, Daniel S.; Aprile, E.; Baltz, E.A.; Dragowsky, M.R.; Gaitskell, R.J.; Gondolo, P.; Hime, A.; Martoff, C.J.; Mei, D.-M.; Nelson, H.; Sadoulet, B.; Schnee, R.W.; Sonnenschein, A.H.; Strigari, L.E.

    2006-01-01

    The discovery of dark matter is of fundamental importance to cosmology, astrophysics, and elementary particle physics. A broad range of observations from the rotation speed of stars in ordinary galaxies to the gravitational lensing of superclusters tell us that 80-90% of the matter in the universe is in some new form, different from ordinary particles, that does not emit or absorb light. Cosmological observations, especially the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe of the cosmic microwave background radiation, have provided spectacular confirmation of the astrophysical evidence. The resulting picture, the so-called ''Standard Cosmology'', finds that a quarter of the energy density of the universe is dark matter and most of the remainder is dark energy. A basic foundation of the model, Big Bang Nucleonsynthesis (BBN), tells us that at most about 5% is made of ordinary matter, or baryons. The solution to this ''dark matter problem'' may therefore lie in the existence of some new form of non-baryonic matter. With ideas on these new forms coming from elementary particle physics, the solution is likely to have broad and profound implications for cosmology, astrophysics, and fundamental interactions. While non-baryonic dark matter is a key component of the cosmos and the most abundant form of matter in the Universe, so far it has revealed itself only through gravitational effects--determining its nature is one of the greatest scientific issues of our time. Many potential new forms of matter that lie beyond the Standard Model of strong and electroweak interactions have been suggested as dark matter candidates, but none has yet been produced in the laboratory. One possibility is that the dark matter is comprised of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, that were produced moments after the Big Bang from collisions of ordinary matter. WIMPs refer to a general class of particles characterized primarily by a mass and annihilation cross section that would allow them

  18. The darkside multiton detector for the direct dark matter search

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aalseth, C. E.; Agnes, P.; Alton, A.; Arisaka, K.; Asner, D. M.; Back, H. O.; Baldin, B.; Biery, K.; Bonfini, G.; Bossa, M.; Brigatti, A.; Brodsky, J.; Budano, F.; Cadonati, L.; Cadoni, M.; Calaprice, F.; Canci, N.; Candela, A.; Cao, H.; Cariello, M.; Cavalcante, P.; Chepurnov, A.; Cocco, A. G.; Condon, C.; Crippa, L.; D'Angelo, D.; D'Incecco, M.; Davini, S.; De Deo, M.; Derbin, A.; Devoto, A.; Di Eusanio, F.; Edkins, E.; Empl, A.; Fan, A.; Fiorillo, G.; Fomenko, K.; Forster, G.; Foxe, M.; Franco, D.; Gabriele, F.; Galbiati, C.; Goretti, A.; Grandi, L.; Gromov, M.; Guan, M. Y.; Guardincerri, Y.; Hackett, B.; Herner, K.; Hime, A.; Humble, P.; Hungerford, E.; Ianni, Al.; Ianni, An.; Jaffe, D. E.; Jollet, C.; Keeter, K.; Kendziora, C.; Kidner, S.; Kobychev, V.; Koh, G.; Korablev, D.; Korga, G.; Kurlej, A.; Li, P. X.; Lissia, M.; Lombardi, P.; Ludhova, L.; Luitz, S.; Lukyachenko, G.; Ma, Y. Q.; Machulin, I.; Mandarano, A.; Mari, S. M.; Maricic, J.; Marini, L.; Markov, D.; Martoff, J.; Meregaglia, A.; Meroni, E.; Meyers, P. D.; Miletic, T.; Milincic, R.; Montuschi, M.; Monzani, M. E.; Mosteiro, P.; Mount, B.; Muratova, V.; Musico, P.; Montanari, D.; Nelson, A.; Odrowski, S.; Odrzywolek, A.; Orrell, J. L.; Orsini, M.; Ortica, F.; Pagani, L.; Pallavicini, M.; Pantic, E.; Parmeggiano, S.; Parsells, B.; Pelczar, K.; Pelliccia, N.; Perasso, S.; Perasso, L.; Pocar, A.; Pordes, S.; Pugachev, D.; Qian, H.; Randle, K.; Ranucci, G.; Razeto, A.; Recine, K.; Reinhold, B.; Renshaw, A.; Romani, A.; Rossi, N.; Rossi, B.; Rountree, S. D.; Sablone, D.; Saggese, P.; Saldanha, R.; Sands, W.; Sangiorgio, S.; Segreto, E.; Semenov, D.; Shields, E.; Skorokhvatov, M.; Smallcomb, M.; Smirnov, O.; Sotnikov, A.; Suvurov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Tatarowicz, J.; Testera, G.; Tonazzo, A.; Unzhakov, E.; Vogelaar, R. B.; Wada, M.; Walker, S. E.; Wang, H.; Wang, Y.; Watson, A. W.; Westerdale, S.; Williams, R.; Wojcik, M.; Xu, J.; Yang, C. G.; Yoo, J.; Yu, B.; Zavatarelli, S.; Zhong, W. L.; Zuzel, G.

    2015-01-01

    Although the existence of dark matter is supported by many evidences, based on astrophysical measurements, its nature is still completely unknown. One major candidate is represented by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which could in principle be detected through their collisions with ordinary nuclei in a sensitive target, producing observable low-energy (<100 keV) nuclear recoils. The DarkSide program aims at the WIPMs detection using a liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr-TPC). In this paper we quickly review the DarkSide program focusing in particular on the next generation experiment DarkSide-G2, a 3.6-ton LAr-TPC. The different detector components are described as well as the improvements needed to scale the detector from DarkSide-50 (50 kg LAr-TPC) up to DarkSide-G2. Finally, the preliminary results on background suppression and expected sensitivity are presented

  19. Development of a Low Background Environment for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Da Silva, Angela Jane [British Columbia U.

    1996-01-01

    A major problem currently facing astrophysics and cosmology is the question of dark matter. Although there is little doubt about the existence of dark matter, there is considerable uncertainty about the abundance and nature of this matter. One possibility is that dark matter consists of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), such as the lightest stable particle in supersymmetry models. Direct detection experiments look for nuclear recoils from WIMPs scattering in a detector. The first generation of direct detection experiments were ultimately limited by radioactive backgrounds. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) is a direct detection experiment based on novel particle detectors operated at millikelvin temperatures that provide intrinsic background rejection. This capability, however, is not 100% effective. Therefore a low background environment is essential to the experiment. To create such an environment, all possible background sources have been extensively studied both by measuring the background contribution from muons, photons and neutrons and by performing detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the photon and neutron backgrounds. The results of this investigation, as discussed in this thesis, have influenced all aspects of the CDMS experiment. The initial site for the CDMS experiment is the Stanford Underground Facility. The relatively high muon flux at this site due to its shallow depth was balanced against the convenience of a local site with the unlimited access necessary for operating a complicated cryogenic system and developing new detector technology. The cryostat used to house the detectors was designed to accommodate the extensive shielding necessary to reduce the ambient backgrounds to acceptable levels and to minimize the amount of radioactive contamination near the detectors. Simulations and measurements of the local backgrounds led to a layered shield design that consists primarily of plastic scintillators to veto muons, lead and copper

  20. WIMP Dark Matter and Unitarity-Conserving Inflation via a Gauge Singlet Scalar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kahlhoefer, Felix; McDonald, John

    2015-07-01

    A gauge singlet scalar with non-minimal coupling to gravity can drive inflation and later freeze out to become cold dark matter. We explore this idea by revisiting inflation in the singlet direction (S-inflation) and Higgs Portal Dark Matter in light of the Higgs discovery, limits from LUX and observations by Planck. We show that large regions of parameter space remain viable, so that successful inflation is possible and the dark matter relic abundance can be reproduced. Moreover, the scalar singlet can stabilise the electroweak vacuum and at the same time overcome the problem of unitarity-violation during inflation encountered by Higgs Inflation, provided the singlet is a real scalar. The 2-σ Planck upper bound on n s imposes that the singlet mass is below 2 TeV, so that almost the entire allowed parameter range can be probed by XENON1T.

  1. Direct detection with dark mediators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Curtin, David; Surujon, Ze' ev [C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794 (United States); Tsai, Yuhsin [Physics Department, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616 (United States)

    2014-11-10

    We introduce dark mediator Dark Matter (dmDM) where the dark and visible sectors are connected by at least one light mediator ϕ carrying the same dark charge that stabilizes DM. ϕ is coupled to the Standard Model via an operator q{sup ¯}qϕϕ{sup ⁎}/Λ, and to dark matter via a Yukawa coupling y{sub χ}χ{sup c¯}χϕ. Direct detection is realized as the 2→3 process χN→χ{sup ¯}Nϕ at tree-level for m{sub ϕ}≲10 keV and small Yukawa coupling, or alternatively as a loop-induced 2→2 process χN→χN. We explore the direct-detection consequences of this scenario and find that a heavy O(100 GeV) dmDM candidate fakes different O(10 GeV) standard WIMPs in different experiments. Large portions of the dmDM parameter space are detectable above the irreducible neutrino background and not yet excluded by any bounds. Interestingly, for the m{sub ϕ} range leading to novel direct detection phenomenology, dmDM is also a form of Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM), which resolves inconsistencies between dwarf galaxy observations and numerical simulations.

  2. The ORPHEUS dark matter experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abplanalp, M.; Konter, J.A.; Mango, S.; Perret-Gallix, D.; Kainer, K.U.; Knoop, K.M.

    1996-01-01

    A progress report of the ORPHEUS dark matter experiment in the Bern Underground Laboratory is presented. A description of the ORPHEUS detector and its sensitivity to WIMPs is given. The detector will consist of 1 to 2 kg Sn granules operating in a magnetic field of approximately 320 G and at a temperature of 50 mK. In the first phase, the detector will be read out by conventional pickup coils, followed by a second phase with SQUID loops. Preliminary results on background and radioactivity measurements are shown. (orig.)

  3. Study of Neutrino-Induced Neutrons in Dark Matter Detectors for Supernova Burst Neutrinos

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwan, Newton; Scholberg, Kate

    2017-09-01

    When supernova burst neutrinos (1-50 MeV) pass through the Earth, they occasionally interact with the passive shielding surrounding dark matter detectors. When the neutrinos interact, one or two roughly 2 MeV neutrons are scattered isotropically and uniformly, often leaving undetected. Occasionally, these neutrino-induced neutrons (NINs) interact with the detector and leave a background signal similar to a WIMP. The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of NINs on active dark matter detectors during a supernova burst.

  4. Calculation of momentum distribution function of a non-thermal fermionic dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biswas, Anirban; Gupta, Aritra, E-mail: anirbanbiswas@hri.res.in, E-mail: aritra@hri.res.in [Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Chhatnag Road, Jhunsi, Allahabad 211 019 (India)

    2017-03-01

    The most widely studied scenario in dark matter phenomenology is the thermal WIMP scenario. Inspite of numerous efforts to detect WIMP, till now we have no direct evidence for it. A possible explanation for this non-observation of dark matter could be because of its very feeble interaction strength and hence, failing to thermalise with the rest of the cosmic soup. In other words, the dark matter might be of non-thermal origin where the relic density is obtained by the so-called freeze-in mechanism. Furthermore, if this non-thermal dark matter is itself produced substantially from the decay of another non-thermal mother particle, then their distribution functions may differ in both size and shape from the usual equilibrium distribution function. In this work, we have studied such a non-thermal (fermionic) dark matter scenario in the light of a new type of U(1){sub B−L} model. The U(1){sub B−L} model is interesting, since, besides being anomaly free, it can give rise to neutrino mass by Type II see-saw mechanism. Moreover, as we will show, it can accommodate a non-thermal fermionic dark matter as well. Starting from the collision terms, we have calculated the momentum distribution function for the dark matter by solving a coupled system of Boltzmann equations. We then used it to calculate the final relic abundance, as well as other relevant physical quantities. We have also compared our result with that obtained from solving the usual Boltzmann (or rate) equations directly in terms of comoving number density, Y . Our findings suggest that the latter approximation is valid only in cases where the system under study is close to equilibrium, and hence should be used with caution.

  5. Excluding the light dark matter window of a 331 model using LHC and direct dark matter detection data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cogollo, D. [Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Caixa Postal 10071, 58109-970, Campina Grande, PB (Brazil); Gonzalez-Morales, Alma X.; Queiroz, Farinaldo S. [Department of Physics and Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Teles, P. Rebello, E-mail: diegocogollo@df.ufcg.edu.br, E-mail: alxogonz@ucsc.edu, E-mail: fdasilva@ucsc.edu, E-mail: patricia.rebello.teles@cern.ch [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2014-11-01

    We sift the impact of the recent Higgs precise measurements, and recent dark matter direct detection results, on the dark sector of an electroweak extension of the Standard Model that has a complex scalar as dark matter. We find that in this model the Higgs decays with a large branching ratio into dark matter particles, and charged scalars when these are kinematically available, for any coupling strength differently from the so called Higgs portal. Moreover, we compute the abundance and spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section, which are driven by the Higgs and Z{sup '} boson processes. We decisively exclude the 1–500 GeV dark matter window and find the most stringent lower bound in the literature on the scale of symmetry breaking of the model namely 10 TeV, after applying the LUX-2013 limit. Interestingly, the projected XENON1T constraint will be able to rule out the entire 1 GeV–1000 GeV dark matter mass range. Lastly, for completeness, we compute the charged scalar production cross section at the LHC and comment on the possibility of detection at current and future LHC runnings.

  6. Excluding the light dark matter window of a 331 model using LHC and direct dark matter detection data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cogollo, D.; Gonzalez-Morales, Alma X.; Queiroz, Farinaldo S.; Teles, P. Rebello

    2014-01-01

    We sift the impact of the recent Higgs precise measurements, and recent dark matter direct detection results, on the dark sector of an electroweak extension of the Standard Model that has a complex scalar as dark matter. We find that in this model the Higgs decays with a large branching ratio into dark matter particles, and charged scalars when these are kinematically available, for any coupling strength differently from the so called Higgs portal. Moreover, we compute the abundance and spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section, which are driven by the Higgs and Z ' boson processes. We decisively exclude the 1–500 GeV dark matter window and find the most stringent lower bound in the literature on the scale of symmetry breaking of the model namely 10 TeV, after applying the LUX-2013 limit. Interestingly, the projected XENON1T constraint will be able to rule out the entire 1 GeV–1000 GeV dark matter mass range. Lastly, for completeness, we compute the charged scalar production cross section at the LHC and comment on the possibility of detection at current and future LHC runnings

  7. Results from the first science run of the ZEPLIN-III dark matter search experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lebedenko, V. N.; Bewick, A.; Currie, A.; Davidge, D.; Dawson, J.; Horn, M.; Howard, A. S.; Jones, W. G.; Joshi, M.; Liubarsky, I.; Quenby, J. J.; Sumner, T. J.; Thorne, C.; Walker, R. J.; Araujo, H. M.; Edwards, B.; Barnes, E. J.; Ghag, C.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Scovell, P. R.

    2009-01-01

    The ZEPLIN-III experiment in the Palmer Underground Laboratory at Boulby uses a 12 kg two-phase xenon time-projection chamber to search for the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that may account for the dark matter of our Galaxy. The detector measures both scintillation and ionization produced by radiation interacting in the liquid to differentiate between the nuclear recoils expected from WIMPs and the electron-recoil background signals down to ∼10 keV nuclear-recoil energy. An analysis of 847 kg·days of data acquired between February 27, 2008, and May 20, 2008, has excluded a WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering spin-independent cross section above 8.1x10 -8 pb at 60 GeVc -2 with a 90% confidence limit. It has also demonstrated that the two-phase xenon technique is capable of better discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils at low-energy than previously achieved by other xenon-based experiments.

  8. First results from the NEWS-G direct dark matter search experiment at the LSM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnaud, Q.; Asner, D.; Bard, J.-P.; Brossard, A.; Cai, B.; Chapellier, M.; Clark, M.; Corcoran, E. C.; Dandl, T.; Dastgheibi-Fard, A.; Dering, K.; Di Stefano, P.; Durnford, D.; Gerbier, G.; Giomataris, I.; Gorel, P.; Gros, M.; Guillaudin, O.; Hoppe, E. W.; Kamaha, A.; Katsioulas, I.; Kelly, D. G.; Martin, R. D.; McDonald, J.; Muraz, J.-F.; Mols, J.-P.; Navick, X.-F.; Papaevangelou, T.; Piquemal, F.; Roth, S.; Santos, D.; Savvidis, I.; Ulrich, A.; Vazquez de Sola Fernandez, F.; Zampaolo, M.

    2018-01-01

    New Experiments With Spheres-Gas (NEWS-G) is a direct dark matter detection experiment using Spherical Proportional Counters (SPCs) with light noble gases to search for low-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). We report the results from the first physics run taken at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) with SEDINE, a 60 cm diameter prototype SPC operated with a mixture of Ne + CH4 (0.7%) at 3.1 bars for a total exposure of 9.6 kg · days. New constraints are set on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-section in the sub-GeV/c2 mass region. We exclude cross-sections above 4.4 ×10-37cm2 at 90% confidence level (C.L.) for a 0.5 GeV/c2 WIMP. The competitive results obtained with SEDINE are promising for the next phase of the NEWS-G experiment: a 140 cm diameter SPC to be installed at SNOLAB by summer 2018.

  9. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) Experiment: First Results from the Soudan Mine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, Clarence Leeder [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

    2004-09-01

    There is an abundance of evidence that the majority of the mass of the universe is in the form of non-baryonic non-luminous matter that was non-relativistic at the time when matter began to dominate the energy density. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, are attractive cold dark matter candidates because they would have a relic abundance today of ~0.1 which is consistent with precision cosmological measurements. WIMPs are also well motivated theoretically. Many minimal supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model have WIMPs in the form of the lightest supersymmetric partner, typically taken to be the neutralino. The CDMS II experiment searches for WIMPs via their elastic scattering off of nuclei. The experiment uses Ge and Si ZIP detectors, operated at <50 mK, which simultaneously measure the ionization and athermal phonons produced by the scattering of an external particle. The dominant background for the experiment comes from electromagnetic interactions taking place very close to the detector surface. Analysis of the phonon signal from these interactions makes it possible to discriminate them from interactions caused by WIMPs. This thesis presents the details of an important aspect of the phonon pulse shape analysis known as the ''Lookup Table Correction''. The Lookup Table Correction is a position dependent calibration of the ZIP phonon response which improves the rejection of events scattering near the detector surface. The CDMS collaboration has recently commissioned its experimental installation at the Soudan Mine. This thesis presents an analysis of the data from the first WIMP search at the Soudan Mine. The results of this analysis set the world's lowest exclusion limit making the CDMS II experiment at Soudan the most sensitive WIMP search to this date.

  10. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search: First 5-Tower Data and Improved Understanding of Ionization Collection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bailey, Catherine N. [Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States)

    2010-01-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) is searching for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with cryogenic particle detectors. These detectors have the ability to discriminate between nuclear recoil candidate and electron recoil background events by collecting both phonon and ionization energy from recoils in the detector crystals. The CDMS-II experiment has completed analysis of the first data runs with 30 semiconductor detectors at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, resulting in a world leading WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section limit for WIMP masses above 44 GeV/c2. As CDMS aims to achieve greater WIMP sensitivity, it is necessary to increase the detector mass and discrimination between signal and background events. Incomplete ionization collection results in the largest background in the CDMS detectors as this causes electron recoil background interactions to appear as false candidate events. Two primary causes of incomplete ionization collection are surface and bulk trapping. Recent work has been focused on reducing surface trapping through the modification of fabrication methods for future detectors. Analyzing data taken with test devices has shown that hydrogen passivation of the amorphous silicon blocking layer worsens surface trapping. Additional data has shown that the iron-ion implantation used to lower the critical temperature of the tungsten transition-edge sensors causes a degradation of the ionization collection. Using selective implantation on future detectors may improve ionization collection for events near the phonon side detector surface. Bulk trapping is minimized by neutralizing ionized lattice impurities. Detector investigations at testing facilities and in situ at the experimental site have provided methods to optimize the neutralization process and monitor running conditions to maintain full ionization collection. This work details my contribution to the 5-tower data taking, monitoring, and analysis effort as

  11. Direct Dark Matter Detection through the use of a Xenon Based TPC Detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel, Jonathan; Akerib, Daniel; LZ group at SLAC

    2018-01-01

    The vast majority of matter in the universe is unaccounted for. Only 15% of the universe's mass density is visible matter, while the other 85% is Dark Matter (DM). The Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) is currently the frontrunner of the DM candidates. The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) and next generation LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiments are designed to directly detect WIMPs. Both experiments are xenon-based Time Projection Chambers (TPC) used to observe possible WIMP interactions. These interactions produce photons and electrons with the photons being collected in a set of two photomultiplier tube (PMT) arrays and the electrons drifted upwards in the detector by a strong electric field to create a secondary production of photons in gaseous xenon. These two populations of photons are classified as S1 and S2 signals, respectively. Using these signals we reconstruct the energy and position of the interaction and in doing so we can eliminate background events that would otherwise “light up” the detector. My participation in the experiment, while at SLAC, was the creation of the grids that produce the large electric field, along with additional lab activities aimed at testing the grids. While at Stan State, I work on background modeling in order to distinguish a possible WIMP signal from ambient backgrounds.

  12. Thermal right-handed sneutrino dark matter in the NMSSM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cerdeno, David G.

    2009-01-01

    The right-handed sneutrino is a viable WIMP dark matter candidate within the context of the Next-to-MSSM. This is possible through the inclusion of a new singlet superfield with direct coupling to the singlet Higgs. I will review here the main details of this construction, together with the properties of the right-handed sneutrino, including its annihilation channels and direct detection prospects. Sneutrinos within a mass-range of 5-200 GeV can reproduce the correct dark matter relic abundance while not being excluded by current direct searches, and for natural values of the input parameters. Some interesting features regarding collider phenomenology are also pointed out.

  13. Neutralino-nucleon cross sections for detection of low-mass dark matter particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Titkova, I.V.; Bednyakov, V.A.

    2004-01-01

    The weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) is one of the main candidates for the relic dark matter. In the effective low-energy minimal supersymmetric standard model (effMSSM), the neutralino-nucleon spin and scalar cross sections in the low-mass regime were calculated. The calculated cross sections are compared with almost all currently available experimental exclusion curves for spin-dependent WIMP-proton and WIMP-neutron cross sections. It is demonstrated that in general about two-orders-of-magnitude improvement of the current DM experimental sensitivities is needed to reach the effMSSM SUSY predictions. To avoid misleading discrepancies between data and SUSY calculations, it is preferable to use a mixed spin-scalar coupling approach. It is noticed that the DAMA evidence favours the light Higgs coupling approach. It is noticed that the DAMA evidence favours the light Higgs sector in the effMSSM, a high event rate in a 73 Ge detector and relatively high upgoing muon fluxes from relic neutralino annihilations on the Earth and the Sun

  14. Higgs dark matter in UEDs: A good WIMP with bad detection prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Melbéus, Henrik; Merle, Alexander; Ohlsson, Tommy

    2012-01-01

    We study the first Kaluza-Klein excitation of the Higgs boson in universal extra dimensions as a dark matter candidate. The first-level Higgs boson could be the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle, which is stable due to the conservation of Kaluza-Klein parity, in non-minimal models where boundary localized terms modify the mass spectrum. We calculate the relic abundance and find that it agrees with the observed dark matter density if the mass of the first-level Higgs boson is slightly above 2 TeV, not considering coannihilations and assuming no relative mass splitting among the first-level Kaluza-Klein modes. In the case of coannihilations and a non-zero mass splitting, the mass of the first-level Higgs boson can range from 1 TeV to 4 TeV. We study also the prospects for detection of this dark matter candidate in direct as well as indirect detection experiments. Although the first-level Higgs boson is a typical weakly interacting massive particle, an observation in any of the conventional experiments is very challenging.

  15. LEP shines light on dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fox, Patrick J.; Harnik, Roni; Kopp, Joachim; Tsai, Yuhsin

    2011-01-01

    Dark matter pair production at high energy colliders may leave observable signatures in the energy and momentum spectra of the objects recoiling against the dark matter. We use LEP data on monophoton events with large missing energy to constrain the coupling of dark matter to electrons. Within a large class of models, our limits are complementary to and competitive with limits on dark matter annihilation and on WIMP-nucleon scattering from indirect and direct searches. Our limits, however, do not suffer from systematic and astrophysical uncertainties associated with direct and indirect limits. For example, we are able to rule out light (< or approx. 10 GeV) thermal relic dark matter with universal couplings exclusively to charged leptons. In addition, for dark matter mass below about 80 GeV, LEP limits are stronger than Fermi constraints on annihilation into charged leptons in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Within its kinematic reach, LEP also provides the strongest constraints on the spin-dependent direct detection cross section in models with universal couplings to both quarks and leptons. In such models the strongest limit is also set on spin-independent scattering for dark matter masses below ∼4 GeV. Throughout our discussion, we consider both low energy effective theories of dark matter, as well as several motivated renormalizable scenarios involving light mediators.

  16. Mirror dark matter and large scale structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ignatiev, A.Yu.; Volkas, R.R.

    2003-01-01

    Mirror matter is a dark matter candidate. In this paper, we reexamine the linear regime of density perturbation growth in a universe containing mirror dark matter. Taking adiabatic scale-invariant perturbations as the input, we confirm that the resulting processed power spectrum is richer than for the more familiar cases of cold, warm and hot dark matter. The new features include a maximum at a certain scale λ max , collisional damping below a smaller characteristic scale λ S ' , with oscillatory perturbations between the two. These scales are functions of the fundamental parameters of the theory. In particular, they decrease for decreasing x, the ratio of the mirror plasma temperature to that of the ordinary. For x∼0.2, the scale λ max becomes galactic. Mirror dark matter therefore leads to bottom-up large scale structure formation, similar to conventional cold dark matter, for x(less-or-similar sign)0.2. Indeed, the smaller the value of x, the closer mirror dark matter resembles standard cold dark matter during the linear regime. The differences pertain to scales smaller than λ S ' in the linear regime, and generally in the nonlinear regime because mirror dark matter is chemically complex and to some extent dissipative. Lyman-α forest data and the early reionization epoch established by WMAP may hold the key to distinguishing mirror dark matter from WIMP-style cold dark matter

  17. Detection prospects for Majorana fermion WIMPless dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukushima, Keita; Kumar, Jason; Sandick, Pearl

    2011-01-01

    We consider both velocity-dependent and velocity-independent contributions to spin-dependent (SD) and spin-independent (SI) nuclear scattering (including one-loop corrections) of WIMPless dark matter, in the case where the dark matter candidate is a Majorana fermion. We find that spin-independent scattering arises only from the mixing of exotic squarks or from velocity-dependent terms. Nevertheless (and contrary to the case of minimal supersymmetric standard model neutralino WIMPs), we find a class of models which cannot be detected through SI scattering, but can be detected at IceCube/DeepCore through SD scattering. We study the detection prospects for both SI and SD detection strategies for a large range of Majorana fermion WIMPless model parameters.

  18. Charge Transport Phenomena in Detectors of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundqvist, Kyle

    2008-03-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) seeks to detect putative weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPS), which could explain the dark matter problem in cosmology and particle physics. By simultaneously measuring the number of charge carriers and the energy in athermal phonons created by particle interactions in intrinsic Ge and Si crystals at a temperature of 40 mK, a signature response for each event is produced. This response, combined with phonon pulse-shape information, allows CDMS to actively discriminate candidate WIMP interactions with nuclei apart from electromagnetic radioactive background which interacts with electrons. The challenges associated with these techniques are unique. Carrier drift-fields are maintained at only a few V/cm, else drift-emitted Luke-Neganov phonons would dominate the phonons of the original interaction. Under such conditions, carrier scattering is dominated by zero-point fluctuations of the lattice ions. It has been an open question how well the 8 Kelvin data prominent in the literature depicts this case. We compare the simulated transport properties of electrons and holes in Ge at 40 mK and at 8 K, and apply this understanding to our detectors.

  19. Search for dark photons using data from CRESST-II Phase 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gütlein, A.; Angloher, G.; Bento, A.; Bucci, C.; Canonica, L.; Defay, X.; Erb, A.; Feilitzsch, F. v.; Ferreiro Iachellini, N.; Gorla, P.; Hauff, D.; Jochum, J.; Kiefer, M.; Kluck, H.; Kraus, H.; Lanfranchi, J.-C.; Loebell, J.; Mancuso, M.; Münster, A.; Pagliarone, C.; Petricca, F.; Potzel, W.; Pröbst, F.; Puig, R.; Reindl, F.; Schäffner, K.; Schieck, J.; Schönert, S.; Seidel, W.; Stahlberg, M.; Stodolsky, L.; Strandhagen, C.; Strauss, R.; Tanzke, A.; Trinh Thi, H. H.; Türkoǧlu, C.; Uffinger, M.; Ulrich, A.; Usherov, I.; Wawoczny, S.; Willers, M.; Wüstrich, M.; Zöller, A.

    2017-09-01

    Understanding the nature and origin of dark matter is one of the most important challenges for modern particle physics. During the previous decade the sensitivities of direct dark matter searches have improved by several orders of magnitude. These experiments focus their work mainly on the search for dark-matter particles interacting with nuclei (e.g. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, WIMPs). However, there exists a large variety of different candidates for dark-matter particles. One of these candidates, the so-called dark photon, is a long-lived vector boson with a kinetic mixing to the standard-model photon. In this work we present the preliminary results of our search for dark photons. Using data from the direct dark matter search CRESST-II Phase 2 we can improve the existing constraints for the kinetic mixing for dark-photon masses between 0.3 and 0.5 keV/c2. In addition, we also present projected sensitivities for the next phases of the CRESST-III experiment showing great potential to improve the sensitivity for dark-photon masses below 1 keV.

  20. First runs with the ORPHEUS dark matter detector

    CERN Document Server

    Czapek, G; Hauser, M; Janos, S; Loaiza, P; Moser, U; Pretzl, K; Brandt, B V D; Konter, J A; Mango, S; Ebert, T; Kainer, K U; Knoop, K M

    2002-01-01

    The ORPHEUS dark matter experiment is completed at our shallow depth laboratory in Bern (70 m.w.e.). The detector relies on measuring the magnetic flux variation produced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) as they heat 30 mu m diameter superheated superconducting tin granules (SSG) and induce superconducting-to-normal phase transitions. In an initial phase, 0.45 kg of tin granules in a segmented detector volume have been used. Preliminary results of the experiment will be reported.

  1. Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-2L C3F8 Bubble Chamber

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amole, C.; Ardid, M.; Asner, David M.; Baxter, D.; Behnke, E.; Bhattacharjee, P. S.; Borsodi, H.; Bou-Cabo, M.; Brice, S. J.; Broemmelsiek, D.; Clark, K.; Collar, J. I.; Cooper, P. S.; Crisler, M.; Dahl, C. E.; Daley, S.; Das, Madhusmita; Debris, F.; Dhungana, N.; Farine, J.; Felis, I.; Filgas, R.; Fines-Neuschild, M.; Girard, Francoise; Giroux, G.; Hai, M.; Hall, Jeter C.; Harris, O.; Jackson, C. M.; Jin, M.; Krauss, C. B.; Lafreniere, M.; Laurin, M.; Lawson, I.; Levine, I.; Lippincott, W. H.; Mann, E.; Martin, J. P.; Maurya, D.; Mitra, Pitam; Neilson, R.; Noble, A. J.; Plante, A.; Podviianiuk, R. B.; Priya, S.; Robinson, A. E.; Ruschman, M.; Scallon, O.; Seth, S.; Sonnenschein, Andrew; Starinski, N.; Stekl, I.; Vazquez-Jauregui, E.; Wells, J.; Wichoski, U.; Zacek, V.; Zhang, J.

    2015-06-12

    New data are reported from the operation of a 2-liter C3F8 bubble chamber in the 2100 meter deep SNOLAB underground laboratory, with a total exposure of 211.5 kg-days at four different recoil energy thresholds ranging from 3.2 keV to 8.1 keV. These data show that C3F8 provides excellent electron recoil and alpha rejection capabilities at very low thresholds, including the rst observation of a dependence of acoustic signal on alpha energy. Twelve single nuclear recoil event candidates were observed during the run. The candidate events exhibit timing characteristics that are not consistent with the hypothesis of a uniform time distribution, and no evidence for a dark matter signal is claimed. These data provide the most sensitive direct detection constraints on WIMP-proton spin-dependent scattering to date, with signicant sensitivity at low WIMP masses for spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering.

  2. Twenty-three ionization heat detectors for the Dark Matter search with EDELWEISS-II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Navick, X.-F.; Beeman, J.; Carty, M.; Chapellier, M.; Gerbier, G.; Granelli, R.; Herve, S.; Karolak, M.; Nizery, F.; Schwamm, F.; Villar, V.

    2006-01-01

    The first phase of the EDELWEISS-II Dark Matter search is under construction. In this phase, 23 detectors with NTD thermal sensors are going to be used for the direct detection of WIMPs. In this paper, we are describing the production, mounting, monitoring and storage techniques, together with the different characteristics of the detectors and their variations

  3. Dark Matter Search with sub-keV Germanium Detectors at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yue Qian; Wong, Henry T

    2012-01-01

    Germanium detectors with sub-keV sensitivities open a window to search for low-mass WIMP dark matter. The CDEX-TEXONO Collaboration is conducting the first research program at the new China Jinping Underground Laboratory with this approach. The status and plans of the laboratory and the experiment are discussed.

  4. Dark Kinetic Heating of Neutron Stars and an Infrared Window on WIMPs, SIMPs, and Pure Higgsinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baryakhtar, Masha; Bramante, Joseph; Li, Shirley Weishi; Linden, Tim; Raj, Nirmal

    2017-09-29

    We identify a largely model-independent signature of dark matter (DM) interactions with nucleons and electrons. DM in the local galactic halo, gravitationally accelerated to over half the speed of light, scatters against and deposits kinetic energy into neutron stars, heating them to infrared blackbody temperatures. The resulting radiation could potentially be detected by the James Webb Space Telescope, the Thirty Meter Telescope, or the European Extremely Large Telescope. This mechanism also produces optical emission from neutron stars in the galactic bulge, and x-ray emission near the galactic center because dark matter is denser in these regions. For GeV-PeV mass dark matter, dark kinetic heating would initially unmask any spin-independent or spin-dependent dark matter-nucleon cross sections exceeding 2×10^{-45}  cm^{2}, with improved sensitivity after more telescope exposure. For lighter-than-GeV dark matter, cross-section sensitivity scales inversely with dark matter mass because of Pauli blocking; for heavier-than-PeV dark matter, it scales linearly with mass as a result of needing multiple scatters for capture. Future observations of dark sector-warmed neutron stars could determine whether dark matter annihilates in or only kinetically heats neutron stars. Because inelastic interstate transitions of up to a few GeV would occur in relativistic scattering against nucleons, elusive inelastic dark matter like pure Higgsinos can also be discovered.

  5. Radiative bound-state formation in unbroken perturbative non-Abelian theories and implications for dark matter

    OpenAIRE

    Harz, Julia; Petraki, Kalliopi

    2018-01-01

    We compute the cross-sections for the radiative capture of non-relativistic particles into bound states, in unbroken perturbative non-Abelian theories. We find that the formation of bound states via emission of a gauge boson can be significant for a variety of dark matter models that feature non-Abelian long-range interactions, including multi-TeV scale WIMPs and dark matter co-annihilating with coloured partners. Our results disagree with previous computations, on the relative sign of the Ab...

  6. Results from the search for dark matter in the Milky Way with 9 years of data of the ANTARES neutrino telescope

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Albert

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Using data recorded with the ANTARES telescope from 2007 to 2015, a new search for dark matter annihilation in the Milky Way has been performed. Three halo models and five annihilation channels, WIMP+WIMP→bb¯,W+W−,τ+τ−,μ+μ− and νν¯, with WIMP masses ranging from 50 GeVc2 to 100 TeVc2, were considered. No excess over the expected background was found, and limits on the thermally averaged annihilation cross-section were set.

  7. Towards understanding thermal history of the Universe through direct and indirect detection of dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roszkowski, Leszek; Trojanowski, Sebastian [National Centre for Nuclear Research, Hoża 69, 00-681 Warsaw (Poland); Turzyński, Krzysztof, E-mail: leszek.roszkowski@ncbj.gov.pl, E-mail: sebastian.trojanowski@uci.edu, E-mail: Krzysztof-Jan.Turzynski@fuw.edu.pl [Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, ul. Pasteura 5, 02-093 Warsaw (Poland)

    2017-10-01

    We examine the question to what extent prospective detection of dark matter by direct and indirect- detection experiments could shed light on what fraction of dark matter was generated thermally via the freeze-out process in the early Universe. By simulating putative signals that could be seen in the near future and using them to reconstruct WIMP dark matter properties, we show that, in a model- independent approach this could only be achieved in a thin sliver of the parameter space. However, with additional theoretical input the hypothesis about the thermal freeze-out as the dominant mechanism for generating dark matter can potentially be verified. We illustrate this with two examples: an effective field theory of dark matter with a vector messenger and a higgsino or wino dark matter within the MSSM.

  8. Neutrino astronomy and search for WIMPs with MACRO

    CERN Document Server

    Bernardini, P

    2000-01-01

    Upward-going muons, induced primarily by atmospheric neutrinos, are used to search for neutrinos of astrophysical origin. No evidence has been found looking at the event direction and flux limits are obtained on candidate sources. A space-time correlation between gamma ray bursts and upward-going muons has been also investigated. Furthermore the search for a neutrino signal from the Earth and the Sun induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) has been updated. The number of events from the Sun and from the Earth is compatible with the background from atmospheric neutrinos. Therefore flux limits for different search cones have been estimated. Here we concentrate on neutralinos as WIMP candidates and limits depending on the neutralino mass are given and compared with the prediction of supersymmetric models. (11 refs).

  9. Fast cryogenic detectors for neutrinos and dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez-Mestres, L.

    1990-01-01

    We briefly review some recent developments on cryogenic detectors whose response is not entirely limited in speed by heat or phonon propagation through a macroscopic medium. Two subjects are dealt with: a) the use of superheated superconducting granules (SSG) for nucleus recoil detection (dedicated to low energy neutrinos and WIMP dark matter); b) a possible new generation of devices eventually able to perform particle identification (therefore improving background rejection), through simultaneous measurement of ionization and heat: luminescent bolometer, calorimetric ionization detector

  10. Composite dark matter from a model with composite Higgs boson

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yu. Khlopov, Maxim; Kouvaris, Christoforos

    2008-01-01

    In a previous paper \\cite{Khlopov:2007ic}, we showed how the minimal walking technicolor model (WTC) can provide a composite dark matter candidate, by forming bound states between a -2 electrically charged techniparticle and a $^4He^{++}$. We studied the properties of these \\emph......{techni-O-helium} $tOHe$ "atoms", which behave as warmer dark matter rather than cold. In this paper we extend our work on several different aspects. We study the possibility of a mixed scenario where both $tOHe$ and bound states between +2 and -2 electrically charged techniparticles coexist in the dark matter density....... We argue that these newly proposed bound states solely made of techniparticles, although they behave as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), due to their large elastic cross section with nuclei, can only account for a small percentage of the dark matter density. Therefore we conclude...

  11. Radiogenic and muon-induced backgrounds in the LUX dark matter detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Bradley, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Coffey, T.; Currie, A.; de Viveiros, L.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Flores, C.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C.; Hertel, S. A.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Kazkaz, K.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Malling, D. C.; Mannino, R.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H.; Neves, F.; Ott, R. A.; Pangilinan, M.; Parker, P. D.; Pease, E. K.; Pech, K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Shutt, T.; Silva, C.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; O'Sullivan, K.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D.; Tennyson, B.; Tiedt, D. R.; Tripathi, M.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Walsh, N.; Webb, R.; White, J. T.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woods, M.; Zhang, C.

    2015-03-01

    The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment aims to detect rare low-energy interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The radiogenic backgrounds in the LUX detector have been measured and compared with Monte Carlo simulation. Measurements of LUX high-energy data have provided direct constraints on all background sources contributing to the background model. The expected background rate from the background model for the 85.3 day WIMP search run is (2.6 ±0.2stat ±0.4sys) ×10-3 events keVee-1 kg-1day-1 in a 118 kg fiducial volume. The observed background rate is (3.6 ±0.4stat) ×10-3 events keVee-1 kg-1day-1 , consistent with model projections. The expectation for the radiogenic background in a subsequent one-year run is presented.

  12. Intrinsic neutron background of nuclear emulsions for directional Dark Matter searches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexandrov, A.; Asada, T.; Buonaura, A.; Consiglio, L.; D'Ambrosio, N.; De Lellis, G.; Di Crescenzo, A.; Di Marco, N.; Di Vacri, M. L.; Furuya, S.; Galati, G.; Gentile, V.; Katsuragawa, T.; Laubenstein, M.; Lauria, A.; Loverre, P. F.; Machii, S.; Monacelli, P.; Montesi, M. C.; Naka, T.; Pupilli, F.; Rosa, G.; Sato, O.; Strolin, P.; Tioukov, V.; Umemoto, A.; Yoshimoto, M.

    2016-07-01

    Recent developments of the nuclear emulsion technology led to the production of films with nanometric silver halide grains suitable to track low energy nuclear recoils with submicrometric length. This improvement opens the way to a directional Dark Matter detection, thus providing an innovative and complementary approach to the on-going WIMP searches. An important background source for these searches is represented by neutron-induced nuclear recoils that can mimic the WIMP signal. In this paper we provide an estimation of the contribution to this background from the intrinsic radioactive contamination of nuclear emulsions. We also report the neutron-induced background as a function of the read-out threshold, by using a GEANT4 simulation of the nuclear emulsion, showing that it amounts to about 0.06 per year per kilogram, fully compatible with the design of a 10 kg × year exposure.

  13. Science plumbs new depths in hunt for Wimps

    CERN Multimedia

    Benfield, C

    2003-01-01

    Lord Sainsbury has officially opened a laboratory in the salt mine at Boulby near Whitby. The lab is searching for WIMPs and was recently awarded 3.1 millions pounds by PPARC to upgrade the facility (1 page).

  14. 'HERON' as a dark matter detector?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adams, J.S.; Bandler, S.R.; Brouer, S.M.; Enss, C.; Lanou, R.E.; Maris, H.J.; More, T.; Seidel, G.M.

    1996-01-01

    ''HERON'', which is the acronym for '' Helium: Roton detection of Neutrinos'', is a project whose principal goal is a next generation detector of solar neutrinos from the p-p and 7 Be branches. It will utilize superfluid helium as the target material and employ event energy transport out of the target by phonon and roton processes unique to helium. Many of the challenges presented for dark matter detection are very similar to those for low energy solar neutrinos. We present new results from our feasibility studies for HERON which indicate an asymmetry in the roton emission distribution from stopping particles and the ability to detect simultaneously the ultraviolet fluorescence photons also emitted. These features are potentially valuable for solar neutrino detection and the question is explored as to whether or not the same helium technique could be valuable for WIMP dark matter detection

  15. Particle dark matter constraints from the Draco dwarf galaxy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tyler, Craig

    2002-01-01

    It is widely thought that neutralinos, the lightest supersymmetric particles, could comprise most of the dark matter. If so, then dark halos will emit radio and gamma ray signals initiated by neutralino annihilation. A particularly promising place to look for these indicators is at the center of the local group dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco, and recent measurements of the motion of its stars have revealed it to be an even better target for dark matter detection than previously thought. We compute limits on WIMP properties for various models of Draco's dark matter halo. We find that if the halo is nearly isothermal, as the new measurements indicate, then current gamma ray flux limits prohibit much of the neutralino parameter space. If Draco has a moderate magnetic field, then current radio limits can rule out more of it. These results are appreciably stronger than other current constraints, and so acquiring more detailed data on Draco's density profile may become one of the most promising avenues for identifying dark matter

  16. Two component WIMP-FImP dark matter model with singlet fermion, scalar and pseudo scalar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dutta Banik, Amit; Pandey, Madhurima; Majumdar, Debasish [Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, HBNI, Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology Division, Kolkata (India); Biswas, Anirban [Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad (India)

    2017-10-15

    We explore a two component dark matter model with a fermion and a scalar. In this scenario the Standard Model (SM) is extended by a fermion, a scalar and an additional pseudo scalar. The fermionic component is assumed to have a global U(1){sub DM} and interacts with the pseudo scalar via Yukawa interaction while a Z{sub 2} symmetry is imposed on the other component - the scalar. These ensure the stability of both dark matter components. Although the Lagrangian of the present model is CP conserving, the CP symmetry breaks spontaneously when the pseudo scalar acquires a vacuum expectation value (VEV). The scalar component of the dark matter in the present model also develops a VEV on spontaneous breaking of the Z{sub 2} symmetry. Thus the various interactions of the dark sector and the SM sector occur through the mixing of the SM like Higgs boson, the pseudo scalar Higgs like boson and the singlet scalar boson. We show that the observed gamma ray excess from the Galactic Centre as well as the 3.55 keV X-ray line from Perseus, Andromeda etc. can be simultaneously explained in the present two component dark matter model and the dark matter self interaction is found to be an order of magnitude smaller than the upper limit estimated from the observational results. (orig.)

  17. Mixed dark matter in left-right symmetric models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berlin, Asher [Department of Physics, University of Chicago,Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States); Fox, Patrick J. [Theoretical Physics Department, Fermilab,Batavia, Illinois 60510 (United States); Hooper, Dan [Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory,Batavia, Illinois 60510 (United States); Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago,Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States); Mohlabeng, Gopolang [Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory,Batavia, Illinois 60510 (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas,Lawrence, Kansas 66045 (United States)

    2016-06-08

    Motivated by the recently reported diboson and dijet excesses in Run 1 data at ATLAS and CMS, we explore models of mixed dark matter in left-right symmetric theories. In this study, we calculate the relic abundance and the elastic scattering cross section with nuclei for a number of dark matter candidates that appear within the fermionic multiplets of left-right symmetric models. In contrast to the case of pure multiplets, WIMP-nucleon scattering proceeds at tree-level, and hence the projected reach of future direct detection experiments such as LUX-ZEPLIN and XENON1T will cover large regions of parameter space for TeV-scale thermal dark matter. Decays of the heavy charged W{sup ′} boson to particles in the dark sector can potentially shift the right-handed gauge coupling to larger values when fixed to the rate of the Run 1 excesses, moving towards the theoretically attractive scenario, g{sub R}=g{sub L}. This region of parameter space may be probed by future collider searches for new Higgs bosons or electroweak fermions.

  18. Radiative bound-state-formation cross-sections for dark matter interacting via a Yukawa potential

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Petraki, Kalliopi [LPTHE, CNRS, UMR 7589,4 Place Jussieu, F-75252, Paris (France); Nikhef,Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands); Postma, Marieke; Vries, Jordy de [Nikhef,Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2017-04-13

    We calculate the cross-sections for the radiative formation of bound states by dark matter whose interactions are described in the non-relativistic regime by a Yukawa potential. These cross-sections are important for cosmological and phenomenological studies of dark matter with long-range interactions, residing in a hidden sector, as well as for TeV-scale WIMP dark matter. We provide the leading-order contributions to the cross-sections for the dominant capture processes occurring via emission of a vector or a scalar boson. We offer a detailed inspection of their features, including their velocity dependence within and outside the Coulomb regime, and their resonance structure. For pairs of annihilating particles, we compare bound-state formation with annihilation.

  19. Thermal right-handed sneutrino dark matter with a singlet Higgs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cerdeno, David G.

    2009-01-01

    We report on a model in which the right-handed sneutrino is a viable WIMP dark matter candidate. It consists on an extension of the MSSM with a singlet S with coupling SH 1 H 2 in order to solve the μ problem as in the NMSSM, and right-handed neutrinos N with couplings SNN in order to generate dynamically electroweak-scale Majorana masses. Through the direct coupling to the singlet, the sneutrino can not only be thermally produced in the right amount but also have a large enough scattering cross section with nuclei to detect it directly in near future, in contrast with most of other right-handed sneutrino dark matter models.

  20. From direct detection to relic abundance: the case of proton-philic spin-dependent inelastic Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scopel, Stefano; Yu, Hyeonhye, E-mail: scopel@sogang.ac.kr, E-mail: skyh2yu@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Sogang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-04-01

    We discuss strategies to make inferences on the thermal relic abundance of a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) when the same effective dimension-six operator that explains an experimental excess in direct detection is assumed to drive decoupling at freeze-out, and apply them to the explicit scenario of WIMP inelastic up-scattering with spin-dependent couplings to protons (proton-philic Spin-dependent Inelastic Dark Matter, pSIDM), a phenomenological set-up containing two Dark Matter (DM) particles χ{sub 1} and χ{sub 2} with masses m {sub χ}= m {sub χ{sub 1}} and m {sub χ{sub 2}}= m {sub χ}+δ that we have shown in a previous paper to explain the DAMA effect in compliance with the constraints from other detectors. We also update experimental constraints on pSIDM, extend the analysis to the most general spin-dependent momentum-dependent interactions allowed by non-relativistic Effective Field Theory (EFT), and consider for the WIMP velocity distribution in our Galaxy f ( v ) both a halo-independent approach and a standard Maxwellian. Under these conditions we find that the DAMA effect can be explained in terms of the particle χ{sub 1} in compliance with all the other constraints for all the analyzed EFT couplings and also for a Maxwellian f ( v ). As far as the relic abundance is concerned, we show that the problem of calculating it by using direct detection data to fix the model parameters is affected by a strong sensitivity on f ( v ) and by the degeneracy between the WIMP local density ρ{sub χ} and the WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section, since ρ{sub χ} must be rescaled with respect to the observed DM density in the neighborhood of the Sun when the calculated relic density Ω is smaller than the observed one Ω{sub 0}. As a consequence, a DM direct detection experiment is not directly sensitive to the physical cut-off scale of the EFT, but on some dimensional combination that does not depend on the actual value of Ω. However, such degeneracy

  1. Dark matter annihilation into right-handed neutrinos and the galactic center gamma-ray excess

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tang, Yi-Lei [Center for High Energy Physics, Peking University,Beijing 100871 (China); Zhu, Shou-hua [Center for High Energy Physics, Peking University,Beijing 100871 (China); Institute of Theoretical Physics State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology,Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter,Beijing 100871 (China)

    2016-03-08

    In this paper, we will discuss a specific case that the dark matter particles annihilate into right-handed neutrinos. We calculate the predicted gamma-ray excess from the galactic center and compare our results with the data from the Fermi-LAT. An approximately 10–60 GeV right-handed neutrino with heavier dark matter particle can perfectly explain the observed spectrum. The annihilation cross section 〈σv〉 falls within the range 0.5–4×10{sup −26} cm{sup 3}/s, which is roughly compatible with the WIMP annihilation cross section.

  2. Updated constraints on the dark matter interpretation of CDMS-II-Si data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Witte, Samuel J.; Gelmini, Graciela B.

    2017-01-01

    We present an updated halo-dependent and halo-independent analysis of viable light WIMP dark matter candidates which could account for the excess observed in CDMS-II-Si. We include recent constraints from LUX, PandaX-II, and PICO-60, as well as projected sensitivities for XENON1T, SuperCDMS SNOLAB, LZ, DARWIN, DarkSide-20k, and PICO-250, on candidates with spin-independent isospin conserving and isospin-violating interactions, and either elastic or exothermic scattering. We show that there exist dark matter candidates which can explain the CDMS-II-Si data and remain very marginally consistent with the null results of all current experiments, however such models are highly tuned, making a dark matter interpretation of CDMS-II-Si very unlikely. We find that these models can only be ruled out in the future by an experiment comparable to LZ or PICO-250.

  3. Planckian Interacting Massive Particles as Dark Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Garny, Mathias; Sloth, Martin S.

    2016-03-10

    The Standard Model could be self-consistent up to the Planck scale according to the present measurements of the Higgs mass and top quark Yukawa coupling. It is therefore possible that new physics is only coupled to the Standard Model through Planck suppressed higher dimensional operators. In this case the WIMP miracle is a mirage, and instead minimality as dictated by Occam's razor would indicate that dark matter is related to the Planck scale, where quantum gravity is anyway expected to manifest itself. Assuming within this framework that dark matter is a Planckian Interacting Massive Particle, we show that the most natural mass larger than $0.01\\,\\textrm{M}_p$ is already ruled out by the absence of tensor modes in the CMB. This also indicates that we expect tensor modes in the CMB to be observed soon for this type of minimal dark matter model. Finally, we touch upon the KK graviton mode as a possible realization of this scenario within UV complete models, as well as further potential signatures and peculiar...

  4. Detectability of γ-rays from clumps of dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lake, G.

    1990-01-01

    If the dark matter in our Galaxy is made up of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with masses of the order of several GeV (for example, photinos or Higgsinos), γ-rays produced by their annihilation would in principle be observable. But the expected flux from a smoothly distributed dark matter halo is much smaller than the observed diffuse background, and although narrow lines might be produced, their intensity would be much too low to see with the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO). A complementary approach is to consider unique spatial signatures. Numerical simulations of galaxy formation show that even in the central bulge of the Galaxy, the mean density of the dark matter could be equal to that of the stars. If this were so, GRO could see the Galactic Centre as a source of annihilating dark matter. Other lumps formed as part of the hierarchical formation of the Galaxy could also produce sources that would be recognized by the shape of their continuum spectrum and a line feature in sufficiently bright sources. Even Geminga, the second strongest source of γ-rays at energies greater than 50 MeV, could be annihilating dark matter. (author)

  5. US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017 : Community Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Feng, J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Fox, P. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Dawson, W. A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Ammons, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Axelrod, T. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Chapline, G. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Drlica-Wagner, A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Golovich, N. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Schneider, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2017-05-08

    This white paper summarizes the workshop “U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter” held at University of Maryland from March 23-25. The flagships of the US Dark Matter search program are the G2 experiments ADMX, LZ, and SuperCDMS, which will cover well-motivated axion and WIMP dark matter over a range of masses. The workshop assumes that a complete exploration of this parameter space remains the highest priority of the dark matter community, and focuses instead on the science case for additional new small-scale projects in dark matter science that complement the G2 program (and other ongoing projects worldwide). It therefore concentrates on exploring distinct, well-motivated parameter space that will not be covered by the existing program; on surveying ideas for such projects (i.e. projects costing ~$10M or less); and on placing these ideas in a global context. The workshop included over 100 presentations of new ideas, proposals and recent science and R&D results from the US and international scientific community.

  6. A Bio-Inspired Model-Based Approach for Context-Aware Post-WIMP Tele-Rehabilitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Víctor López-Jaquero

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Tele-rehabilitation is one of the main domains where Information and Communication Technologies (ICT have been proven useful to move healthcare from care centers to patients’ home. Moreover, patients, especially those carrying out a physical therapy, cannot use a traditional Window, Icon, Menu, Pointer (WIMP system, but they need to interact in a natural way, that is, there is a need to move from WIMP systems to Post-WIMP ones. Moreover, tele-rehabilitation systems should be developed following the context-aware approach, so that they are able to adapt to the patients’ context to provide them with usable and effective therapies. In this work a model-based approach is presented to assist stakeholders in the development of context-aware Post-WIMP tele-rehabilitation systems. It entails three different models: (i a task model for designing the rehabilitation tasks; (ii a context model to facilitate the adaptation of these tasks to the context; and (iii a bio-inspired presentation model to specify thoroughly how such tasks should be performed by the patients. Our proposal overcomes one of the limitations of the model-based approach for the development of context-aware systems supporting the specification of non-functional requirements. Finally, a case study is used to illustrate how this proposal can be put into practice to design a real world rehabilitation task.

  7. Light Readout for a 1 ton Liquid Argon Dark Matter Detector

    CERN Document Server

    Boccone, Vittorio; Baudis, Laura; Otyugova, Polina; Regenfus, Christian

    2010-01-01

    Evidence for dark matter (DM) has been reported using astronomical observations in systems such as the Bullet cluster. Weakly interactive massive particles (WIMPs), in particular the lightest neutralino, are the most popular DM candidates within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). Many groups in the world are focussing their attention on the direct detection of DM in the laboratory. The detectors should have large target masses and excellent noise rejection capabilities because of the small cross section between DM and ordinary matter (σWIMP−nucleon < 4 · 10−8 pb). Noble liquids are today considered to be one of the best options for large-size DM experiments, as they have a relatively low ionization energy, good scintillation properties and long electron lifetime. Moreover noble liquid detectors are easily scalable to large masses. This thesis deals with the development of a large (1 ton) LAr WIMP detector (ArDM) which could measure simultaneously light and charge from the scintilla...

  8. Identification of Dark Matter particles with LHC and direct detection data

    CERN Document Server

    Bertone, Gianfranco; Fornasa, Mattia; de Austri, Roberto Ruiz; Trotta, Roberto

    2010-01-01

    Dark matter (DM) is currently searched for with a variety of detection strategies. Accelerator searches are particularly promising, but even if Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are found at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), it will be difficult to prove that they constitute the bulk of the DM in the Universe. We show that a significantly better reconstruction of the DM properties can be obtained with a combined analysis of LHC and direct detection (DD) data, by making a simple Ansatz on the WIMP local density, i.e. by assuming that the local density scales with the cosmological relic abundance. We demonstrate this method in an explicit example in the context of a 24-parameter supersymmetric model, with a neutralino LSP in the stau co-annihilation region. Our results show that future ton-scale DD experiments will allow to break degeneracies in the SUSY parameter space and achieve a significantly better reconstruction of the neutralino composition and its relic density than with LHC data alone.

  9. Accurate estimate of the relic density and the kinetic decoupling in nonthermal dark matter models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arcadi, Giorgio; Ullio, Piero

    2011-01-01

    Nonthermal dark matter generation is an appealing alternative to the standard paradigm of thermal WIMP dark matter. We reconsider nonthermal production mechanisms in a systematic way, and develop a numerical code for accurate computations of the dark matter relic density. We discuss, in particular, scenarios with long-lived massive states decaying into dark matter particles, appearing naturally in several beyond the standard model theories, such as supergravity and superstring frameworks. Since nonthermal production favors dark matter candidates with large pair annihilation rates, we analyze the possible connection with the anomalies detected in the lepton cosmic-ray flux by Pamela and Fermi. Concentrating on supersymmetric models, we consider the effect of these nonstandard cosmologies in selecting a preferred mass scale for the lightest supersymmetric particle as a dark matter candidate, and the consequent impact on the interpretation of new physics discovered or excluded at the LHC. Finally, we examine a rather predictive model, the G2-MSSM, investigating some of the standard assumptions usually implemented in the solution of the Boltzmann equation for the dark matter component, including coannihilations. We question the hypothesis that kinetic equilibrium holds along the whole phase of dark matter generation, and the validity of the factorization usually implemented to rewrite the system of a coupled Boltzmann equation for each coannihilating species as a single equation for the sum of all the number densities. As a byproduct we develop here a formalism to compute the kinetic decoupling temperature in case of coannihilating particles, which can also be applied to other particle physics frameworks, and also to standard thermal relics within a standard cosmology.

  10. Dark matter searches from the galaxy to the LHC - recent hints and coming progress

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2008-01-01

    We discuss the possible galactic positron excess and constraints on interpreting it as dark matter annihilation. We consider wino and higgsino wimps that provide the local relic density and a positron excess (which implies the relic density is non-thermal in origin and important consequences for cosmological history and underlying theories), comment on how to confirm and study these issues at LHC, and on the relation to direct detection experiments.

  11. WIMP-nucleon cross-section results from the second science run of ZEPLIN-III

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akimov, D.Yu. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Araujo, H.M., E-mail: h.araujo@imperial.ac.uk [High Energy Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London (United Kingdom); Barnes, E.J. [School of Physics and Astronomy, SUPA University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Belov, V.A. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Bewick, A. [High Energy Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London (United Kingdom); Burenkov, A.A. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Chepel, V. [LIP-Coimbra and Department of Physics of the University of Coimbra (Portugal); Currie, A. [High Energy Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London (United Kingdom); DeViveiros, L. [LIP-Coimbra and Department of Physics of the University of Coimbra (Portugal); Edwards, B. [Particle Physics Department, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton (United Kingdom); Ghag, C.; Hollingsworth, A. [School of Physics and Astronomy, SUPA University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Horn, M.; Jones, W.G. [High Energy Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London (United Kingdom); Kalmus, G.E. [Particle Physics Department, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton (United Kingdom); Kobyakin, A.S.; Kovalenko, A.G. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Lebedenko, V.N. [High Energy Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London (United Kingdom); Lindote, A. [LIP-Coimbra and Department of Physics of the University of Coimbra (Portugal); Particle Physics Department, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton (United Kingdom); Lopes, M.I. [LIP-Coimbra and Department of Physics of the University of Coimbra (Portugal); and others

    2012-03-13

    We report experimental upper limits on WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross sections from the second science run of ZEPLIN-III at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. A raw fiducial exposure of 1344 kg Dot-Operator days was accrued over 319 days of continuous operation between June 2010 and May 2011. A total of eight events was observed in the signal acceptance region in the nuclear recoil energy range 7-29 keV, which is compatible with background expectations. This allows the exclusion of the scalar cross-section above 4.8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -8} pb near 50 GeV/c{sup 2} WIMP mass with 90% confidence. Combined with data from the first run, this result improves to 3.9 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -8} pb. The corresponding WIMP-neutron spin-dependent cross-section limit is 8.0 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} pb. The ZEPLIN programme reaches thus its conclusion at Boulby, having deployed and exploited successfully three liquid xenon experiments of increasing reach.

  12. WIMP-nucleon cross-section results from the second science run of ZEPLIN-III

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akimov, D.Yu.; Araújo, H.M.; Barnes, E.J.; Belov, V.A.; Bewick, A.; Burenkov, A.A.; Chepel, V.; Currie, A.; DeViveiros, L.; Edwards, B.; Ghag, C.; Hollingsworth, A.; Horn, M.; Jones, W.G.; Kalmus, G.E.; Kobyakin, A.S.; Kovalenko, A.G.; Lebedenko, V.N.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M.I.

    2012-01-01

    We report experimental upper limits on WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross sections from the second science run of ZEPLIN-III at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. A raw fiducial exposure of 1344 kg⋅days was accrued over 319 days of continuous operation between June 2010 and May 2011. A total of eight events was observed in the signal acceptance region in the nuclear recoil energy range 7-29 keV, which is compatible with background expectations. This allows the exclusion of the scalar cross-section above 4.8×10 -8 pb near 50 GeV/c 2 WIMP mass with 90% confidence. Combined with data from the first run, this result improves to 3.9×10 -8 pb. The corresponding WIMP-neutron spin-dependent cross-section limit is 8.0×10 -3 pb. The ZEPLIN programme reaches thus its conclusion at Boulby, having deployed and exploited successfully three liquid xenon experiments of increasing reach.

  13. Probing Models of Dark Matter and the Early Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orlofsky, Nicholas David

    This thesis discusses models for dark matter (DM) and their behavior in the early universe. An important question is how phenomenological probes can directly search for signals of DM today. Another topic of investigation is how the DM and other processes in the early universe must evolve. Then, astrophysical bounds on early universe dynamics can constrain DM. We will consider these questions in the context of three classes of DM models--weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), axions, and primordial black holes (PBHs). Starting with WIMPs, we consider models where the DM is charged under the electroweak gauge group of the Standard Model. Such WIMPs, if generated by a thermal cosmological history, are constrained by direct detection experiments. To avoid present or near-future bounds, the WIMP model or cosmological history must be altered in some way. This may be accomplished by the inclusion of new states that coannihilate with the WIMP or a period of non-thermal evolution in the early universe. Future experiments are likely to probe some of these altered scenarios, and a non-observation would require a high degree of tuning in some of the model parameters in these scenarios. Next, axions, as light pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons, are susceptible to quantum fluctuations in the early universe that lead to isocurvature perturbations, which are constrained by observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We ask what it would take to allow axion models in the face of these strong CMB bounds. We revisit models where inflationary dynamics modify the axion potential and discuss how isocurvature bounds can be relaxed, elucidating the difficulties in these constructions. Avoiding disruption of inflationary dynamics provides important limits on the parameter space. Finally, PBHs have received interest in part due to observations by LIGO of merging black hole binaries. We ask how these PBHs could arise through inflationary models and investigate the opportunity

  14. A Search for weakly interacting dark matter particles with low temperature detectors capable of simultaneously measuring ionization and heat

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sonnenschein, Andrew Harry [UC, Santa Barbara

    1999-01-01

    Lots of gravitating material that doesn't emit or absorb light seems to be required in all sensible accounts of the dynamics of large-scale structures in the universe. The nature and extent of this mysterious "dark matter" has been one of the central puzzles in cosmology over the last decade. This dissertation describes an experiment that tests one possibility, that the dark matter is in the form of undiscovered Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) produced as a thermal relic of the big bang. In this chapter, we will review the most important observations that suggest the dark matter must exist and discuss the forms it could take.

  15. Extending LHC coverage to light pseudoscalar mediators and coy dark sectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kozaczuk, Jonathan; Martin, Travis A.W.

    2015-01-01

    Many dark matter models involving weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) feature new, relatively light pseudoscalars that mediate dark matter pair annihilation into Standard Model fermions. In particular, simple models of this type can explain the gamma ray excess originating in the Galactic Center as observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. In many cases the pseudoscalar’s branching ratio into WIMPs is suppressed, making these states challenging to detect at colliders through standard dark matter searches. Here, we study the prospects for observing these light mediator states at the LHC without exploiting missing energy techniques. While existing searches effectively probe pseudoscalars with masses between 5–14 GeV and above 90 GeV, the LHC reach can be extended to cover much of the interesting parameter space in the intermediate 20–80 GeV mass range in which the mediator can have appreciable Yukawa-like couplings to Standard Model fermions but would have escaped detection by LEP and other experiments. Models explaining the Galactic Center excess via a light pseudoscalar mediator can give rise to a promising signal in this regime through the associated production of the mediator with bottom quarks while satisfying all other existing constraints. We perform an analysis of the backgrounds and trigger efficiencies, detailing the cuts that can be used to extract the signal. A significant portion of the otherwise unconstrained parameter space of these models can be conclusively tested at the 13 TeV LHC with 100 fb −1 , and we encourage the ATLAS and CMS collaborations to extend their existing searches to this mass range.

  16. Astrophysical dark matter: candidates from particle physics and detection possibilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freese, K.

    1989-01-01

    In this talk, I will discuss the arguments that 50% to 90% of the matter in galaxies, including our own, is made of an unknown type of dark matter. I will review the reason why cosmologists believe Ω = 1 and illustrate the contrast with the limits on the amount of baryonic matter from element abundances in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Other arguments for nonbaryonic dark matter will also be discussed. Candidates for the dark matter from particle physics will be presented. I will focus on cold dark matter candidates known as WIMPs, weakly interacting massive (O(GeV)) particles. I will try to illustrate why these particles are interesting for astrophysics and outline ideas for cornering them. Detection possibilities for these particles include indirect detection, which takes advantage of the annihilation products of these particles in the galactic halo, the sun, or the earth. Direct detection via newly proposed cryogenic detectors must be sensitive to <∼ keV energy deposits. Annual modulation of the dark matter signal can be used as a signature for these halo particles. I hope to motivate the interest in these particles and discuss ideas for finding them

  17. Cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soni, Amarjit; Xiao, Huangyu; Zhang, Yue

    2017-10-01

    We point out a unique mechanism to produce the relic abundance for the glueball dark matter from a gauged SU (N )d hidden sector which is bridged to the standard model sector through heavy vectorlike quarks colored under gauge interactions from both sides. A necessary ingredient of our assumption is that the vectorlike quarks, produced either thermally or nonthermally, are abundant enough to dominate the universe for some time in the early universe. They later undergo dark color confinement and form unstable vectorlike-quarkonium states which annihilate decay and reheat the visible and dark sectors. The ratio of entropy dumped into two sectors and the final energy budget in the dark glueballs is only determined by low energy parameters, including the intrinsic scale of the dark SU (N )d , Λd, and number of dark colors, Nd, but depend weakly on parameters in the ultraviolet such as the vectorlike quark mass or the initial condition. We call this a cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density.

  18. Search for cold and hot dark matter with the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment, HDMS, GENIUS and GENIUS-TF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H.V.; Dietz, A.; Krivosheina, I.V.

    2003-01-01

    The recent result from the Heidelberg-Moscow double beta experiment allows neutrinos still to play an important role as hot dark matter in the Universe. HDMS has started in 2001 its search for cold dark matter (WIMPS), with a HPGe crystal of enriched 73 Ge. Concerning hot dark matter, GENIUS will improve the present accuracy for the (effective) neutrino mass. At the same time GENIUS will extend the range of sensitivity in an unprecedented way to cover a wide range of the parameter space of SUSY parameters for neutralinos as cold dark matter. A GENIUS Test Facility in the Gran Sasso has been approved in 2001 and will come into operation by end of 2002. Finally some comments are given to some criticism of the result presented elsewhere

  19. CPN/Tools: A Post-WIMP Interface for Editing and Simulating Coloured Petri Nets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Peter; Beaudouin-Lafon, Michel; Mackay, Wendy E.

    2001-01-01

    traditional ideas about user interfaces, getting rid of pull-down menus, scrollbars, and even selection, while providing the same or greater functionality. It also uses the new and much faster CPN simulator and features incremental syntax checking of the nets. CPN/Tools requires an OpenGL graphics accelerator......CPN/Tools is a major redesign of the popular Design/CPN tool from the University of Aarhus CPN group. The new interface is based on advanced, post-WIMP interaction techniques, including bi-manual interaction, toolglasses and marking menus and a new metaphor for managing the workspace. It challenges...

  20. The XENON1T dark matter experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aprile, E.; Aalbers, J.; Agostini, F.; Alfonsi, M.; Amaro, F. D.; Anthony, M.; Antunes, B.; Arneodo, F.; Balata, M.; Barrow, P.; Baudis, L.; Bauermeister, B.; Benabderrahmane, M. L.; Berger, T.; Breskin, A.; Breur, P. A.; Brown, A.; Brown, E.; Bruenner, S.; Bruno, G.; Budnik, R.; Bütikofer, L.; Calvén, J.; Cardoso, J. M. R.; Cervantes, M.; Chiarini, A.; Cichon, D.; Coderre, D.; Colijn, A. P.; Conrad, J.; Corrieri, R.; Cussonneau, J. P.; Decowski, M. P.; de Perio, P.; Gangi, P. Di; Giovanni, A. Di; Diglio, S.; Disdier, J.-M.; Doets, M.; Duchovni, E.; Eurin, G.; Fei, J.; Ferella, A. D.; Fieguth, A.; Franco, D.; Front, D.; Fulgione, W.; Rosso, A. Gallo; Galloway, M.; Gao, F.; Garbini, M.; Geis, C.; Giboni, K.-L.; Goetzke, L. W.; Grandi, L.; Greene, Z.; Grignon, C.; Hasterok, C.; Hogenbirk, E.; Huhmann, C.; Itay, R.; James, A.; Kaminsky, B.; Kazama, S.; Kessler, G.; Kish, A.; Landsman, H.; Lang, R. F.; Lellouch, D.; Levinson, L.; Lin, Q.; Lindemann, S.; Lindner, M.; Lombardi, F.; Lopes, J. A. M.; Maier, R.; Manfredini, A.; Maris, I.; Undagoitia, T. Marrodán; Masbou, J.; Massoli, F. V.; Masson, D.; Mayani, D.; Messina, M.; Micheneau, K.; Molinario, A.; Morå, K.; Murra, M.; Naganoma, J.; Ni, K.; Oberlack, U.; Orlandi, D.; Othegraven, R.; Pakarha, P.; Parlati, S.; Pelssers, B.; Persiani, R.; Piastra, F.; Pienaar, J.; Pizzella, V.; Piro, M.-C.; Plante, G.; Priel, N.; García, D. Ramírez; Rauch, L.; Reichard, S.; Reuter, C.; Rizzo, A.; Rosendahl, S.; Rupp, N.; Santos, J. M. F. dos; Saldanha, R.; Sartorelli, G.; Scheibelhut, M.; Schindler, S.; Schreiner, J.; Schumann, M.; Lavina, L. Scotto; Selvi, M.; Shagin, P.; Shockley, E.; Silva, M.; Simgen, H.; Sivers, M. v.; Stern, M.; Stein, A.; Tatananni, D.; Tatananni, L.; Thers, D.; Tiseni, A.; Trinchero, G.; Tunnell, C.; Upole, N.; Vargas, M.; Wack, O.; Walet, R.; Wang, H.; Wang, Z.; Wei, Y.; Weinheimer, C.; Wittweg, C.; Wulf, J.; Ye, J.; Zhang, Y.

    2017-12-01

    The XENON1T experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) is the first WIMP dark matter detector operating with a liquid xenon target mass above the ton-scale. Out of its 3.2 t liquid xenon inventory, 2.0 t constitute the active target of the dual-phase time projection chamber. The scintillation and ionization signals from particle interactions are detected with low-background photomultipliers. This article describes the XENON1T instrument and its subsystems as well as strategies to achieve an unprecedented low background level. First results on the detector response and the performance of the subsystems are also presented.

  1. The XENON1T dark matter experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aprile, E.; Anthony, M.; De Perio, P.; Gao, F.; Giboni, K.L.; Goetzke, L.W.; Greene, Z.; Lin, Q.; Plante, G.; Rizzo, A.; Stern, M.; Tatananni, D.; Zhang, Y.; Aalbers, J.; Breur, P.A.; Brown, A.; Colijn, A.P.; Decowski, M.P.; Doets, M.; Hogenbirk, E.; Tiseni, A.; Walet, R.; Agostini, F.; Alfonsi, M.; Geis, C.; Grignon, C.; Oberlack, U.; Othegraven, R.; Scheibelhut, M.; Schindler, S.; Amaro, F.D.; Antunes, B.; Cardoso, J.M.R.; Lopes, J.A.M.; Santos, J.M.F. dos; Silva, M.; Arneodo, F.; Benabderrahmane, M.L.; Di Giovanni, A.; Maris, I.; Balata, M.; Bruno, G.; Corrieri, R.; Disdier, J.M.; Rosso, A.G.; Molinario, A.; Orlandi, D.; Parlati, S.; Tatananni, L.; Wang, Z.; Barrow, P.; Baudis, L.; Franco, D.; Galloway, M.; James, A.; Kazama, S.; Kessler, G.; Kish, A.; Maier, R.; Mayani, D.; Pakarha, P.; Piastra, F.; Wulf, J.; Bauermeister, B.; Calven, J.; Conrad, J.; Ferella, A.D.; Moraa, K.; Pelssers, B.; Berger, T.; Brown, E.; Piro, M.C.; Breskin, A.; Budnik, R.; Duchovni, E.; Front, D.; Itay, R.; Landsman, H.; Lellouch, D.; Levinson, L.; Manfredini, A.; Priel, N.; Bruenner, S.; Cichon, D.; Eurin, G.; Hasterok, C.; Lindner, M.; Undagoitia, T.M.; Pizzella, V.; Rauch, L.; Rupp, N.; Schreiner, J.; Simgen, H.; Wack, O.; Buetikofer, L.; Coderre, D.; Kaminsky, B.; Schumann, M.; Sivers, M. von; Chiarini, A.; Di Gangi, P.; Garbini, M.; Massoli, F.V.; Sartorelli, G.; Selvi, M.; Cussonneau, J.P.; Diglio, S.; Masbou, J.; Micheneau, K.; Persiani, R.; Thers, D.; Fei, J.; Lombardi, F.; Ni, K.; Ye, J.; Fieguth, A.; Huhmann, C.; Murra, M.; Rosendahl, S.; Vargas, M.; Weinheimer, C.; Wittweg, C.; Fulgione, W.; Grandi, L.; Saldanha, R.; Shockley, E.; Tunnell, C.; Upole, N.; Lindemann, S.; Messina, M.; Naganoma, J.; Shagin, P.; Pienaar, J.; Garcia, D.R.; Reichard, S.; Lavina, L.S.; Stein, A.; Wang, H.; Trinchero, G.; Wei, Y.

    2017-01-01

    The XENON1T experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) is the first WIMP dark matter detector operating with a liquid xenon target mass above the ton-scale. Out of its 3.2 t liquid xenon inventory, 2.0 t constitute the active target of the dual-phase time projection chamber. The scintillation and ionization signals from particle interactions are detected with low-background photomultipliers. This article describes the XENON1T instrument and its subsystems as well as strategies to achieve an unprecedented low background level. First results on the detector response and the performance of the subsystems are also presented. (orig.)

  2. The XENON1T dark matter experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aprile, E.; Anthony, M.; De Perio, P.; Gao, F.; Giboni, K.L.; Goetzke, L.W.; Greene, Z.; Lin, Q.; Plante, G.; Rizzo, A.; Stern, M.; Tatananni, D.; Zhang, Y. [Columbia University, Physics Department, New York, NY (United States); Aalbers, J.; Breur, P.A.; Brown, A.; Colijn, A.P.; Decowski, M.P.; Doets, M.; Hogenbirk, E.; Tiseni, A.; Walet, R. [Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Agostini, F. [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, L' Aquila (Italy); Gran Sasso Science Institute, L' Aquila (Italy); University of Bologna, Department of Physics and Astrophysics (Italy); INFN-Bologna (Italy); Alfonsi, M.; Geis, C.; Grignon, C.; Oberlack, U.; Othegraven, R.; Scheibelhut, M.; Schindler, S. [Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Institut fuer Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA, Mainz (Germany); Amaro, F.D.; Antunes, B.; Cardoso, J.M.R.; Lopes, J.A.M.; Santos, J.M.F. dos; Silva, M. [University of Coimbra, LIBPhys, Department of Physics, Coimbra (Portugal); Arneodo, F.; Benabderrahmane, M.L.; Di Giovanni, A.; Maris, I. [New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Balata, M.; Bruno, G.; Corrieri, R.; Disdier, J.M.; Rosso, A.G.; Molinario, A.; Orlandi, D.; Parlati, S.; Tatananni, L.; Wang, Z. [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, L' Aquila (Italy); Gran Sasso Science Institute, L' Aquila (Italy); Barrow, P.; Baudis, L.; Franco, D.; Galloway, M.; James, A.; Kazama, S.; Kessler, G.; Kish, A.; Maier, R.; Mayani, D.; Pakarha, P.; Piastra, F.; Wulf, J. [University of Zurich, Physik Institut, Zurich (Switzerland); Bauermeister, B.; Calven, J.; Conrad, J.; Ferella, A.D.; Moraa, K.; Pelssers, B. [Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm (Sweden); Berger, T.; Brown, E.; Piro, M.C. [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Troy, NY (United States); Breskin, A.; Budnik, R.; Duchovni, E.; Front, D.; Itay, R.; Landsman, H.; Lellouch, D.; Levinson, L.; Manfredini, A.; Priel, N. [Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Rehovot (Israel); Bruenner, S.; Cichon, D.; Eurin, G.; Hasterok, C.; Lindner, M.; Undagoitia, T.M.; Pizzella, V.; Rauch, L.; Rupp, N.; Schreiner, J.; Simgen, H.; Wack, O. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Buetikofer, L.; Coderre, D.; Kaminsky, B.; Schumann, M. [Universitaet Freiburg, Physikalisches Institut, Freiburg (Germany); Sivers, M. von [Freiburg Univ. (Germany). Physikalisches Inst.; Bern Univ. (Switzerland). Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics; Cervantes, M.; Lang, R.F.; Masson, D.; Reuter, C. [Purdue University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Lafayette, IN (United States); Chiarini, A.; Di Gangi, P.; Garbini, M.; Massoli, F.V.; Sartorelli, G.; Selvi, M. [University of Bologna, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Bologna (Italy); INFN-Bologna (Italy); Cussonneau, J.P.; Diglio, S.; Masbou, J.; Micheneau, K.; Persiani, R.; Thers, D. [CNRS/IN2P3, Universite de Nantes, SUBATECH, IMT Atlantique, Nantes (France); Fei, J.; Lombardi, F.; Ni, K.; Ye, J. [University of California, Department of Physics, San Diego, CA (United States); Fieguth, A.; Huhmann, C.; Murra, M.; Rosendahl, S.; Vargas, M.; Weinheimer, C.; Wittweg, C. [Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Muenster (Germany); Fulgione, W. [INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, L' Aquila (Italy); Gran Sasso Science Institute, L' Aquila (Italy); INFN-Torino (Italy); Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Turin (Italy); Grandi, L.; Saldanha, R.; Shockley, E.; Tunnell, C.; Upole, N. [University of Chicago, Department of Physics and Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics, Chicago, IL (United States); Lindemann, S. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Universitaet Freiburg, Physikalisches Institut, Freiburg (Germany); Messina, M. [Columbia University, Physics Department, New York, NY (United States); New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Naganoma, J.; Shagin, P. [Rice University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Houston, TX (United States); Pienaar, J. [Purdue University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Lafayette, IN (United States); University of Chicago, Department of Physics and Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics, Chicago, IL (United States); Garcia, D.R. [Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Institut fuer Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA, Mainz (Germany); Universitaet Freiburg, Physikalisches Institut, Freiburg (Germany); Reichard, S. [University of Zurich, Physik Institut, Zurich (Switzerland); Purdue University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Lafayette, IN (United States); Lavina, L.S. [Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Universite Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, LPNHE, Paris (France); Stein, A.; Wang, H. [University of California, Physics and Astronomy Department, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Trinchero, G. [INFN-Torino (Italy); Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Turin (Italy); Wei, Y. [University of Zurich, Physik Institut, Zurich (Switzerland); University of California, Department of Physics, San Diego, CA (United States); Collaboration: XENON Collaboration

    2017-12-15

    The XENON1T experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) is the first WIMP dark matter detector operating with a liquid xenon target mass above the ton-scale. Out of its 3.2 t liquid xenon inventory, 2.0 t constitute the active target of the dual-phase time projection chamber. The scintillation and ionization signals from particle interactions are detected with low-background photomultipliers. This article describes the XENON1T instrument and its subsystems as well as strategies to achieve an unprecedented low background level. First results on the detector response and the performance of the subsystems are also presented. (orig.)

  3. Ultra Light Axionic Dark Matter: Galactic Halos and Implications for Observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Martino, Ivan; Broadhurst, Tom; Tye, S.-H. Henry; Chiueh, Tzihong; Shive, Hsi-Yu; Lazkoz, Ruth

    2018-01-01

    The cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm successfully explains the cosmic structure over an enormous span of redshifts. However, it fails when probing the innermost regions of dark matter halos and the properties of the Milky Way's dwarf galaxy satellites. Moreover, the lack of experimental detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) favors alternative candidates such as light axionic dark matter that naturally arise in string theory. Cosmological N-body simulations have shown that axionic dark matter forms a solitonic core of size of ≃ 150 pc in the innermost region of the galactic halos. The oscillating scalar field associated to the axionic dark matter halo produces an oscillating gravitational potential that induces a time dilation of the pulse arrival time of ≃ 400 ns/(m_B/10^{-22} eV) for pulsar within such a solitonic core. Over the whole galaxy, the averaged predicted signal may be detectable with current and forthcoming pulsar timing array telescopes.

  4. Dark Matter Searches with the Fermi-LAT in the Direction of Dwarf Spheroidals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wood, Matthew; Anderson, Brandon; Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Cohen-Tanugi, Johann; Conrad, Jan

    2015-07-13

    The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are some of the most dark-matter-dominated objects known. Due to their proximity, high dark matter content, and lack of astrophysical backgrounds, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are widely considered to be among the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter via gamma rays. Here we report on gamma-ray observations of Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies based on 6 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data processed with the new Pass 8 reconstruction and event-level analysis. None of the dwarf galaxies are significantly detected in gamma rays, and we present upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section from a combined analysis of the 15 most promising dwarf galaxies. The constraints derived are among the strongest to date using gamma rays, and lie below the canonical thermal relic cross section for WIMPs of mass ≲ 100GeV annihilating via the bb-bar and τ⁺τ⁻ channels.

  5. Dark matter search and the scalar quark contents of the nucleon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dinter, Simon; Drach, Vincent; Jansen, Karl

    2011-09-01

    We present lattice QCD simulation results from the European Twisted Mass Collaboration (ETMC) for the light, strange and charm quark contents of the nucleon. These quantities are important ingredients to estimate the cross-section for the detection of WIMPs as Dark Matter candidates. By employing a particular lattice QCD formulation, i.e. twisted mass fermions, accurate results of the light and strange scalar contents of the nucleon can be obtained. In addition, we provide a bound for the charm quark content of the nucleon. (orig.)

  6. Dark matter search and the scalar quark contents of the nucleon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dinter, Simon; Drach, Vincent; Jansen, Karl [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC

    2011-09-15

    We present lattice QCD simulation results from the European Twisted Mass Collaboration (ETMC) for the light, strange and charm quark contents of the nucleon. These quantities are important ingredients to estimate the cross-section for the detection of WIMPs as Dark Matter candidates. By employing a particular lattice QCD formulation, i.e. twisted mass fermions, accurate results of the light and strange scalar contents of the nucleon can be obtained. In addition, we provide a bound for the charm quark content of the nucleon. (orig.)

  7. Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-60 C$_3$F$_8$ Bubble Chamber

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amole, C.; et al.

    2017-02-24

    New results are reported from the operation of the PICO-60 dark matter detector, a bubble chamber filled with 52 kg of C$_3$F$_8$ located in the SNOLAB underground laboratory. As in previous PICO bubble chambers, PICO-60 C$_3$F$_8$ exhibits excellent electron recoil and alpha decay rejection, and the observed multiple-scattering neutron rate indicates a single-scatter neutron background of less than 1 event per month. A blind analysis of an efficiency-corrected 1167-kg-day exposure at a 3.3-keV thermodynamic threshold reveals no single-scattering nuclear recoil candidates, consistent with the predicted background. These results set the most stringent direct-detection constraint to date on the WIMP-proton spin-dependent cross section at 3.4 $\\times$ 10$^{-41}$ cm$^2$ for a 30-GeV$\\thinspace$c$^{-2}$ WIMP, more than one order of magnitude improvement from previous PICO results.

  8. Dark Matter Annihilation at the Galactic Center

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linden, Timothy Ryan [Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

    2013-06-01

    Observations by the WMAP and PLANCK satellites have provided extraordinarily accurate observations on the densities of baryonic matter, dark matter, and dark energy in the universe. These observations indicate that our universe is composed of approximately ve times as much dark matter as baryonic matter. However, e orts to detect a particle responsible for the energy density of dark matter have been unsuccessful. Theoretical models have indicated that a leading candidate for the dark matter is the lightest supersymmetric particle, which may be stable due to a conserved R-parity. This dark matter particle would still be capable of interacting with baryons via weak-force interactions in the early universe, a process which was found to naturally explain the observed relic abundance of dark matter today. These residual annihilations can persist, albeit at a much lower rate, in the present universe, providing a detectable signal from dark matter annihilation events which occur throughout the universe. Simulations calculating the distribution of dark matter in our galaxy almost universally predict the galactic center of the Milky Way Galaxy (GC) to provide the brightest signal from dark matter annihilation due to its relative proximity and large simulated dark matter density. Recent advances in telescope technology have allowed for the rst multiwavelength analysis of the GC, with suitable e ective exposure, angular resolution, and energy resolution in order to detect dark matter particles with properties similar to those predicted by the WIMP miracle. In this work, I describe ongoing e orts which have successfully detected an excess in -ray emission from the region immediately surrounding the GC, which is di cult to describe in terms of standard di use emission predicted in the GC region. While the jury is still out on any dark matter interpretation of this excess, I describe several related observations which may indicate a dark matter origin. Finally, I discuss the

  9. Mono-jet signatures of gluphilic scalar dark matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rohini M. Godbole

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available A gluphilic scalar dark matter (GSDM model has recently been proposed as an interesting vision for WIMP dark matter communicating dominantly with the Standard Model via gluons. We discuss the collider signature of a hard jet recoiling against missing momentum (“mono-jet” in such a construction, whose leading contribution is at one-loop. We compare the full one-loop computation with an effective field theory (EFT treatment, and find (as expected that EFT does not accurately describe regions of parameter space where mass of the colored mediator particles are comparable to the experimental cuts on the missing energy. We determine bounds (for several choices of SU(3 representation of the mediator from the s=8 TeV data, and show the expected reach of the s=13 TeV LHC and a future 100 TeV pp collider to constrain or discover GSDM models.

  10. Sterile neutrino, hidden dark matter and their cosmological signatures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Das, Subinoy

    2012-01-01

    Though thermal dark matter has been the central idea behind the dark matter candidates, it is highly possible that dark matter of the universe is non-thermal in origin or it might be in thermal contact with some hidden or dark sector but not with standard model. Here we explore the cosmological bounds as well as the signatures on two types of non-thermal dark matter candidates. First we discuss a hidden dark matter with almost no interaction (or very feeble) with standard model particles so that it is not in thermal contact with visible sector but we assume it is thermalized with in a hidden sector due to some interaction. While encompassing the standard cold WIMP scenario, we do not require the freeze-out process to be non-relativistic. Rather, freeze-out may also occur when dark matter particles are semi-relativistic or relativistic. Especially we focus on the warm dark matter scenario in this set up and find the constraints on the warm dark matter mass, cross-section and hidden to visible sector temperature ratio which accounts for the observed dark-matter density, satisfies the Tremaine-Gunn bound on dark-matter phase space density and has a free-streaming length consistent with cosmological constraints on the matter power spectrum. Our method can also be applied to keV sterile neutrino dark matter which is not thermalized with standard model but is thermalized with in a dark sector. The second part of this proceeding focuses on an exotic dark matter candidate which arises from the existence of eV mass sterile neutrino through a late phase transition. Due to existence of a strong scalar force the light sterile states get trapped into stable degenerate micro nuggets. We find that its signature in matter power spectra is close to a warm dark matter candidate.

  11. Status of the DAMIC Direct Dark Matter Search Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aguilar-Arevalo, A.; et al.

    2015-09-30

    The DAMIC experiment uses fully depleted, high resistivity CCDs to search for dark matter particles. With an energy threshold $\\sim$50 eV$_{ee}$, and excellent energy and spatial resolutions, the DAMIC CCDs are well-suited to identify and suppress radioactive backgrounds, having an unrivaled sensitivity to WIMPs with masses $<$6 GeV/$c^2$. Early results motivated the construction of a 100 g detector, DAMIC100, currently being installed at SNOLAB. This contribution discusses the installation progress, new calibration efforts near the threshold, a preliminary result with 2014 data, and the prospects for physics results after one year of data taking.

  12. Study of light detection and sensitivity for a ton-scale liquid xenon dark matter detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei, Y; Lin, Q; Xiao, X; Ni, K

    2013-01-01

    Ton-scale liquid xenon detectors operated in two-phase mode are proposed and being constructed recently to explore the favored parameter space for the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) dark matter. To achieve a better light collection efficiency while limiting the number of electronics channels compared to the previous generation detectors, large-size photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) such as the 3-inch-diameter R11410 from Hamamatsu are suggested to replace the 1-inch-square R8520 PMTs. In a two-phase xenon dark matter detector, two PMT arrays on the top and bottom are usually used. In this study, we compare the performance of two different ton-scale liquid xenon detector configurations with the same number of either R11410 (config.1) or R8520 (config.2) for the top PMT array, while both using R11410 PMTs for the bottom array. The self-shielding of liquid xenon suppresses the background from the PMTs and the dominant background is from the pp solar neutrinos in the central fiducial volume. The light collection efficiency for the primary scintillation light is largely affected by the xenon purity and the reflectivity of the reflectors. In the optimistic situation with a 10 m light absorption length and a 95% reflectivity, the light collection efficiency is 43%(34%) for config.1(config.2). In the conservative situation with a 2.5 m light absorption length and a 85% reflectivity, the value is only 18%(13%) for config.1(config.2). The difference between the two configurations is due to the larger PMT coverage on the top for config.1. The slightly different position resolutions for the two configurations have a negligible effect on the sensitivity. Based on the above considerations, we estimate the sensitivity reach of the two detector configurations. Both configurations can reach a sensitivity of 2 ∼ 3 × 10 −47 cm 2 for spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section for 100 GeV/c 2 WIMPs after two live-years of operation. The one with R8520 PMTs for the top

  13. Velocity-selective dark states in rubidium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Esslinger, T.

    1995-06-01

    There are two recent developments exerting a strong influence on atomic physics: cooling of atomic gases with laser light, and optics with matter waves. The report addresses both fields. A mechanism for the cooling of atoms is examined, with the wave character of the atom playing an important part in the process. A novel atomic beam experiment has been worked out and is reported which represents application of this cooling method to an alkali atom for the first time. The basic principle of the cooling process is that atoms are optically pumped into quantum states by means of interaction with a standing laser wave, the quantum states having a sharply defined momentum, decoupled from the light field. These states are called dark states, as their dipole moment does not couple to the field of a resonant laser wave. In a one-dimensional standing laser wave with spatially varying polarization, the dark state is delocalised. This state is called velocity-selective dark state (VSDS). So far, such VSDS have only been observed in helium atoms. We succeded for the first time in detecting the population of VSDS with an experiment using alkali atoms. Atoms of a cold rubidium beam are optically pumped into VSDS by way of interaction with a one-dimensional standing laser wave. (orig./MM) [de

  14. A SIMPLE Bubble Chamber for Dark Matter Searches: Testing and Development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramos, A.R.; Fernandes, A.C.; Marques, J.G.; Kling, A. [C2TN, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, E.N. 10 - km 139.7, 2695-066 Bobadela, LRS (Portugal); Felizardo, M.; Girard, T.A. [Centro de Fisica Nuclear, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto 2, 1649-003, Lisbon (Portugal); Lazaro, I. [Laboratoire Souterrain a Bas Bruit, UMS 3538 UNS/UAPV/CNRS, 84400 Rustrel-Pays d' Apt (France); Puibasset, J. [Centre de Recherche sur la Matiere Divisee CNRS et Universite d' Orleans, 45071 Orleans, 02 (France)

    2015-07-01

    SIMPLE (Superheated Instrument for Massive Particle Experiments) is one of only three experiments worldwide in search of evidence of astroparticle dark matter (WIMPs) using halocarbon-loaded superheated liquid (SHL) detectors. The 2012 Phase II SIMPLE measurements yielded the most restrictive exclusion contour in the spin-dependent (SD) sector of WIMP-proton interactions from a direct search experiment at the time, overlapping for the first time results previously obtained only indirectly [1]. In order to remain competitive with other experiments in the field, the next phase measurement requires larger exposure over shorter observation times with significantly improved neutron shielding. To increase exposure, SIMPLE plans, as a first step, to replace its superheated droplet detectors (SDDs), each containing an active mass of about 15 g of halocarbon, with bubble chambers capable of holding up to 20 kg of active halocarbon mass. We report on the development of the first 1 kg halocarbon SIMPLE bubble chamber prototype, including chamber recompression system design and testing and initial acoustic detection of bubble formation. (authors)

  15. Searches for Particle Dark Matter with gamma-rays.

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    In this contribution I review the present status and discuss some prospects for indirect detection of dark matter with gamma-rays. Thanks to the Fermi Large Area Telescope, searches in gamma-rays have reached sensitivities that allow to probe the most interesting parameter space of the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) paradigm. This gain in sensitivity is naturally accompanied by a number of detection claims or indications, the most recent being the claim of a line feature at a dark matter particle mass of ∼ 130 GeV at the Galactic Centre, a claim which requires confirmation from the Fermi-LAT collaboration and other experiments, for example HESS II or the planned Gamma-400 satellite. Predictions for the next generation air Cherenkov telescope, Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), together with forecasts on future Fermi-LAT constraints arrive at the exciting possibility that the cosmological benchmark cross-section could be probed from masses of a few GeV to a few TeV. Consequently, non-detection wou...

  16. Local Group dSph radio survey with ATCA (III): constraints on particle dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Regis, Marco; Colafrancesco, Sergio; Profumo, Stefano; De Blok, W.J.G.; Massardi, Marcella; Richter, Laura

    2014-01-01

    We performed a deep search for radio synchrotron emissions induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) annihilation or decay in six dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies of the Local Group. Observations were conducted with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at 16 cm wavelength, with an rms sensitivity better than 0.05 mJy/beam in each field. In this work, we first discuss the uncertainties associated with the modeling of the expected signal, such as the shape of the dark matter (DM) profile and the dSph magnetic properties. We then investigate the possibility that point-sources detected in the proximity of the dSph optical center might be due to the emission from a DM cuspy profile. No evidence for an extended emission over a size of few arcmin (which is the DM halo size) has been detected. We present the associated bounds on the WIMP parameter space for different annihilation/decay final states and for different astrophysical assumptions. If the confinement of electrons and positrons in the dSph is such that the majority of their power is radiated within the dSph region, we obtain constraints on the WIMP annihilation rate which are well below the thermal value for masses up to few TeV. On the other hand, for conservative assumptions on the dSph magnetic properties, the bounds can be dramatically relaxed. We show however that, within the next 10 years and regardless of the astrophysical assumptions, it will be possible to progressively close in on the full parameter space of WIMPs by searching for radio signals in dSphs with SKA and its precursors

  17. Local Group dSph radio survey with ATCA (III): constraints on particle dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Regis, Marco [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino, via P. Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino (Italy); Colafrancesco, Sergio [School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa); Profumo, Stefano [Department of Physics, University of California, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); De Blok, W.J.G. [Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo (Netherlands); Massardi, Marcella [INAF—Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via Gobetti 101, I-40129, Bologna (Italy); Richter, Laura, E-mail: regis@to.infn.it, E-mail: sergio.colafrancesco@wits.ac.za, E-mail: profumo@ucsc.edu, E-mail: blok@astron.nl, E-mail: massardi@ira.inaf.it, E-mail: laura@ska.ac.za [SKA South Africa, 3rd Floor, The Park, Park Road, Pinelands, 7405 (South Africa)

    2014-10-01

    We performed a deep search for radio synchrotron emissions induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) annihilation or decay in six dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies of the Local Group. Observations were conducted with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at 16 cm wavelength, with an rms sensitivity better than 0.05 mJy/beam in each field. In this work, we first discuss the uncertainties associated with the modeling of the expected signal, such as the shape of the dark matter (DM) profile and the dSph magnetic properties. We then investigate the possibility that point-sources detected in the proximity of the dSph optical center might be due to the emission from a DM cuspy profile. No evidence for an extended emission over a size of few arcmin (which is the DM halo size) has been detected. We present the associated bounds on the WIMP parameter space for different annihilation/decay final states and for different astrophysical assumptions. If the confinement of electrons and positrons in the dSph is such that the majority of their power is radiated within the dSph region, we obtain constraints on the WIMP annihilation rate which are well below the thermal value for masses up to few TeV. On the other hand, for conservative assumptions on the dSph magnetic properties, the bounds can be dramatically relaxed. We show however that, within the next 10 years and regardless of the astrophysical assumptions, it will be possible to progressively close in on the full parameter space of WIMPs by searching for radio signals in dSphs with SKA and its precursors.

  18. Mixed axion-wino dark matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyu Jung Bae

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available A variety of supersymmetric models give rise to a split mass spectrumcharacterized by very heavy scalars but sub-TeV gauginos, usually with awino-like LSP. Such models predict a thermally-produced underabundance ofwino-like WIMP dark matter so that non-thermal DM production mechanisms arenecessary.We examine the case where theories with a wino-like LSP are augmented by aPeccei-Quinn sector including an axion-axino-saxion supermultiplet in either theSUSY KSVZ or SUSY DFSZ models and with/without saxion decays to axions/axinos.We show allowed ranges of PQ breaking scale f_a for various cases which aregenerated by solving the necessary coupled Boltzmann equations.We also present results for a model with radiatively-driven naturalnessbut with a wino-like LSP.

  19. A Dark Matter Search with MALBEK

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giovanetti, G. K.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, E.; Avignone, F. T.; Barabash, A. S.; Bertrand, F. E.; Boswell, M.; Brudanin, V.; Busch, M.; Byram, D.; Caldwell, A. S.; Chan, Y.-D.; Christofferson, C. D.; Combs, D. C.; Cuesta, C.; Detwiler, J. A.; Doe, P. J.; Efremenko, Yu.; Egorov, V.; Ejiri, H.; Elliott, S. R.; Fast, J. E.; Finnerty, P.; Fraenkle, F. M.; Galindo-Uribarri, A.; Goett, J.; Green, M. P.; Gruszko, J.; Guiseppe, V. E.; Gusev, K.; Hallin, A. L.; Hazama, R.; Hegai, A.; Henning, R.; Hoppe, E. W.; Howard, S.; Howe, M. A.; Keeter, K. J.; Kidd, M. F.; Kochetov, O.; Konovalov, S. I.; Kouzes, R. T.; LaFerriere, B. D.; Leon, J.; Leviner, L. E.; Loach, J. C.; MacMullin, J.; MacMullin, S.; Martin, R. D.; Meijer, S.; Mertens, S.; Nomachi, M.; Orrell, J. L.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Overman, N. R.; Phillips, D. G.; Poon, A. W. P.; Pushkin, K.; Radford, D. C.; Rager, J.; Rielage, K.; Robertson, R. G. H.; Romero-Romero, E.; Ronquest, M. C.; Schubert, A. G.; Shanks, B.; Shima, T.; Shirchenko, M.; Snavely, K. J.; Snyder, N.; Suriano, A. M.; Thompson, J.; Timkin, V.; Tornow, W.; Trimble, J. E.; Varner, R. L.; Vasilyev, S.; Vetter, K.; Vorren, K.; White, B. R.; Wilkerson, J. F.; Wiseman, C.; Xu, W.; Yakushev, E.; Young, A. R.; Yu, C.-H.; Yumatov, V.

    The Majorana Demonstrator is an array of natural and enriched high purity germanium detectors that will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge and perform a search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with masses below 10 GeV. As part of the Majorana research and development efforts, we have deployed a modified, low-background broad energy germanium detector at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility. With its sub-keV energy threshold, this detector is sensitive to potential non-Standard Model physics, including interactions with WIMPs. We discuss the backgrounds present in the WIMP region of interest and explore the impact of slow surface event contamination when searching for a WIMP signal.

  20. Theoretical interpretation of experimental data from direct dark matter detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chung-Lin, Shan

    2007-10-15

    I derive expressions that allow to reconstruct the normalized one-dimensional velocity distribution function of halo WIMPs and to determine its moments from the recoil energy spectrum as well as from experimental data directly. The reconstruction of the velocity distribution function is further extended to take into account the annual modulation of the event rate. All these expressions are independent of the as yet unknown WIMP density near the Earth as well as of the WIMP-nucleus cross section. The only information about the nature of halo WIMPs which one needs is the WIMP mass. I also present a method for the determination of the WIMP mass by combining two (or more) experiments with different detector materials. This method is not only independent of the model of Galactic halo but also of that of WIMPs. (orig.)

  1. Theoretical interpretation of experimental data from direct dark matter detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shan Chung-Lin

    2007-10-01

    I derive expressions that allow to reconstruct the normalized one-dimensional velocity distribution function of halo WIMPs and to determine its moments from the recoil energy spectrum as well as from experimental data directly. The reconstruction of the velocity distribution function is further extended to take into account the annual modulation of the event rate. All these expressions are independent of the as yet unknown WIMP density near the Earth as well as of the WIMP-nucleus cross section. The only information about the nature of halo WIMPs which one needs is the WIMP mass. I also present a method for the determination of the WIMP mass by combining two (or more) experiments with different detector materials. This method is not only independent of the model of Galactic halo but also of that of WIMPs. (orig.)

  2. Implications of a scalar dark force for terrestrial experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carroll, Sean M.; Mantry, Sonny; Ramsey-Musolf, Michael J.

    2010-01-01

    A long-range intergalactic force between dark matter (DM) particles, mediated by an ultralight scalar, is tightly constrained by galactic dynamics and large scale structure formation. We examine the implications of such a 'dark force' for several terrestrial experiments, including Eoetvoes tests of the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP), direct-detection DM searches, and collider studies. The presence of a dark force implies a nonvanishing effect in Eoetvoes tests that could be probed by current and future experiments depending on the DM model. For scalar DM that is a singlet under the standard model gauge groups, a dark force of astrophysically relevant magnitude is ruled out in large regions of parameter space by the DM relic density and WEP constraints. WEP tests also imply constraints on the Higgs-exchange contributions to the spin-independent (SI) DM-nucleus direct-detection cross section. For WIMP scenarios, these considerations constrain Higgs-exchange contributions to the SI cross section to be subleading compared to gauge-boson mediated contributions. In multicomponent DM scenarios, a dark force would preclude large shifts in the rate for Higgs decay to two photons associated with DM-multiplet loops that might otherwise lead to measurable deviations at the LHC or a future linear collider. The combination of observations from galactic dynamics, large scale structure formation, Eoetvoes experiments, DM-direct-detection experiments, and colliders can further constrain the size of new long-range forces in the dark sector.

  3. Signatures of sneutrino dark matter in an extension of the CMSSM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Banerjee, Shankha; Bélanger, Geneviève [LAPTH, Université de Savoie, CNRS, B.P.110, F-74941 Annecy-le-Vieux (France); Mukhopadhyaya, Biswarup [Regional Centre for Accelerator-based Particle Physics, Harish-Chandra Research Institute,Chhatnag Road, Jhusi, Allahabad 211019 (India); Serpico, Pasquale D. [LAPTH, Université de Savoie, CNRS, B.P.110, F-74941 Annecy-le-Vieux (France)

    2016-07-19

    Current data (LHC direct searches, Higgs mass, dark matter-related bounds) severely affect the constrained minimal SUSY standard model (CMSSM) with neutralinos as dark matter candidates. But the evidence for neutrino masses coming from oscillations requires extending the SM with at least right-handed neutrinos with a Dirac mass term. In turn, this implies extending the CMSSM with right-handed sneutrino superpartners, a scenario we dub ν̃CMSSM. These additional states constitute alternative dark matter candidates of the superWIMP type, produced via the decay of the long-lived next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP). Here we consider the interesting and likely case where the NLSP is a τ̃: despite the modest extension with respect to the CMSSM this scenario has the distinctive signatures of heavy, metastable charged particles. After taking into account the role played by neutrino mass bounds and the specific cosmological bounds from the big bang nucleosynthesis in selecting the viable parameter space, we discuss the excellent discovery prospects for this model at the future runs of the LHC. We show that it is possible to probe τ̃{sub 1} masses up to 600 GeV at the 14 TeV LHC with L=1100 fb{sup −1} when one considers a pair production of staus with two or more hard jets through all SUSY processes. We also show the complementary discovery prospects from a direct τ̃{sub 1} pair production, as well as at the new experiment MoEDAL.

  4. How and why actions are selected: action selection and the dark room problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venter Elmarie

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, I examine an evolutionary approach to the action selection problem and illustrate how it helps raise an objection to the predictive processing account. Clark examines the predictive processing account as a theory of brain function that aims to unify perception, action, and cognition, but - despite this aim - fails to consider action selection overtly. He off ers an account of action control with the implication that minimizing prediction error is an imperative of living organisms because, according to the predictive processing account, action is employed to fulfill expectations and reduce prediction error. One way in which this can be achieved is by seeking out the least stimulating environment and staying there (Friston et al. 2012: 2. Bayesian, neuroscientific, and machine learning approaches into a single framework whose overarching principle is the minimization of surprise (or, equivalently, the maximization of expectation. But, most living organisms do not find, and stay in, surprise free environments. This paper explores this objection, also called the “dark room problem”, and examines Clark’s response to the problem. Finally, I recommend that if supplemented with an account of action selection, Clark’s account will avoid the dark room problem.

  5. DARK MATTER SEARCHES IN THE GAMMA-RAY EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND VIA CROSS-CORRELATIONS WITH GALAXY CATALOGS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuoco, Alessandro; Regis, Marco; Fornengo, Nicolao; Xia, Jun-Qing; Branchini, Enzo; Viel, Matteo

    2015-01-01

    We compare the measured angular cross-correlation between the Fermi-Large Area Telescope γ-ray sky and catalogs of extragalactic objects with the expected signal induced by weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM). We include a detailed description of the contribution of astrophysical γ-ray emitters such as blazars, misaligned active galactic nucleus (AGN), and star-forming galaxies, and perform a global fit to the measured cross-correlation. Five catalogs are considered: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-DR6 quasars, Two Micron All Sky Survey galaxies, NRAO VLA Sky Survey radio galaxies, SDSS-DR8 Luminous Red Galaxies, and the SDSS-DR8 main galaxy sample. To model the cross-correlation signal, we use the halo occupation distribution formalism to estimate the number of galaxies of a given catalog in DM halos and their spatial correlation properties. We discuss uncertainties in the predicted cross-correlation signal arising from the DM clustering and WIMP microscopic properties, which set the DM γ-ray emission. The use of different catalogs probing objects at different redshifts significantly reduces, though not completely, the degeneracy among the different γ-ray components. We find that the presence of a significant WIMP DM signal is allowed by the data but not significantly preferred by the fit, although this is mainly due to a degeneracy with the misaligned AGN component. With modest substructure boost, the sensitivity of this method excludes thermal annihilation cross sections at 95% level for WIMP masses up to few tens of GeV. Constraining the low-redshift properties of astrophysical populations with future data will further improve the sensitivity to DM

  6. Dark Matter Searches in the Gamma-ray Extragalactic Background via Cross-correlations with Galaxy Catalogs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuoco, Alessandro; Xia, Jun-Qing; Regis, Marco; Branchini, Enzo; Fornengo, Nicolao; Viel, Matteo

    2015-12-01

    We compare the measured angular cross-correlation between the Fermi-Large Area Telescope γ-ray sky and catalogs of extragalactic objects with the expected signal induced by weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM). We include a detailed description of the contribution of astrophysical γ-ray emitters such as blazars, misaligned active galactic nucleus (AGN), and star-forming galaxies, and perform a global fit to the measured cross-correlation. Five catalogs are considered: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-DR6 quasars, Two Micron All Sky Survey galaxies, NRAO VLA Sky Survey radio galaxies, SDSS-DR8 Luminous Red Galaxies, and the SDSS-DR8 main galaxy sample. To model the cross-correlation signal, we use the halo occupation distribution formalism to estimate the number of galaxies of a given catalog in DM halos and their spatial correlation properties. We discuss uncertainties in the predicted cross-correlation signal arising from the DM clustering and WIMP microscopic properties, which set the DM γ-ray emission. The use of different catalogs probing objects at different redshifts significantly reduces, though not completely, the degeneracy among the different γ-ray components. We find that the presence of a significant WIMP DM signal is allowed by the data but not significantly preferred by the fit, although this is mainly due to a degeneracy with the misaligned AGN component. With modest substructure boost, the sensitivity of this method excludes thermal annihilation cross sections at 95% level for WIMP masses up to few tens of GeV. Constraining the low-redshift properties of astrophysical populations with future data will further improve the sensitivity to DM.

  7. DARK MATTER SEARCHES IN THE GAMMA-RAY EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND VIA CROSS-CORRELATIONS WITH GALAXY CATALOGS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cuoco, Alessandro; Regis, Marco; Fornengo, Nicolao [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino, via P. Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino (Italy); Xia, Jun-Qing [Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Branchini, Enzo [Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi “Roma Tre,” via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146 Roma (Italy); Viel, Matteo, E-mail: cuoco@to.infn.it, E-mail: regis@to.infn.it, E-mail: fornengo@to.infn.it, E-mail: xiajq@bnu.edu.cn, E-mail: branchin@fis.uniroma3.it, E-mail: viel@oats.inaf.it [INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G. B. Tiepolo 11, I-34141, Trieste (Italy)

    2015-12-15

    We compare the measured angular cross-correlation between the Fermi-Large Area Telescope γ-ray sky and catalogs of extragalactic objects with the expected signal induced by weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM). We include a detailed description of the contribution of astrophysical γ-ray emitters such as blazars, misaligned active galactic nucleus (AGN), and star-forming galaxies, and perform a global fit to the measured cross-correlation. Five catalogs are considered: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-DR6 quasars, Two Micron All Sky Survey galaxies, NRAO VLA Sky Survey radio galaxies, SDSS-DR8 Luminous Red Galaxies, and the SDSS-DR8 main galaxy sample. To model the cross-correlation signal, we use the halo occupation distribution formalism to estimate the number of galaxies of a given catalog in DM halos and their spatial correlation properties. We discuss uncertainties in the predicted cross-correlation signal arising from the DM clustering and WIMP microscopic properties, which set the DM γ-ray emission. The use of different catalogs probing objects at different redshifts significantly reduces, though not completely, the degeneracy among the different γ-ray components. We find that the presence of a significant WIMP DM signal is allowed by the data but not significantly preferred by the fit, although this is mainly due to a degeneracy with the misaligned AGN component. With modest substructure boost, the sensitivity of this method excludes thermal annihilation cross sections at 95% level for WIMP masses up to few tens of GeV. Constraining the low-redshift properties of astrophysical populations with future data will further improve the sensitivity to DM.

  8. A search for gamma-ray imprints of annihilating dark matter in the galaxy, and the astrophysical implications of ultra-light fundamental vector bosons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zechlin, Hannes-Sebastian

    2013-12-15

    Standard Model extensions imply new elementary particles that can lead to specific astrophysical signatures. In particular, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) can constitute the unknown non-luminous cold dark matter, which contributes approximately 84% to the matter content of the Universe. Annihilation or decay of WIMPs may lead to high-energy gamma-rays. In this thesis, new methods of searching for gamma-ray signals from annihilating dark matter are developed and applied. Moreover, astrophysical imprints of new ultra-light hidden U(1) gauge bosons in radio data are investigated. Hierarchical structure formation predicts a variety of smaller bound dark matter sub-halos in Milky-Way-like galactic hosts. It is shown that the Fermi-LAT is sufficiently sensitive for detecting up to a few nearby dark matter subhalos in terms of faint gamma-ray sources with a moderate angular extent. Searches in the first and second Fermi-LAT source catalogs reveal about ten candidate sources each. To discriminate the source candidates from conventional astrophysical objects, an analysis for spectral, spatial, positional, and temporal gamma-ray properties using 3.5 years of Fermi-LAT data is carried out. In addition, a multi-wavelength analysis of archival data or follow-up observations in the radio, infrared, optical, UV, X-ray, high-energy, and very-high energy gamma-ray bands is carried out. The broad-band spectra of all promising candidates are compatible with AGN, in particular high-energy peaked BL-Lac type objects (HBLs). Dark matter annihilation can contribute to the small-scale angular anisotropy spectrum of the diffuse gamma-ray background (DGB). The detection capabilities of currently operating imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and the planned Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) are studied. With CTA, a relative gamma-ray contribution from annihilating dark matter of 10% to the extragalactic DGB can be resolved via angular anisotropies. In terms of the dark

  9. A search for gamma-ray imprints of annihilating dark matter in the galaxy, and the astrophysical implications of ultra-light fundamental vector bosons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zechlin, Hannes-Sebastian

    2013-12-01

    Standard Model extensions imply new elementary particles that can lead to specific astrophysical signatures. In particular, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) can constitute the unknown non-luminous cold dark matter, which contributes approximately 84% to the matter content of the Universe. Annihilation or decay of WIMPs may lead to high-energy gamma-rays. In this thesis, new methods of searching for gamma-ray signals from annihilating dark matter are developed and applied. Moreover, astrophysical imprints of new ultra-light hidden U(1) gauge bosons in radio data are investigated. Hierarchical structure formation predicts a variety of smaller bound dark matter sub-halos in Milky-Way-like galactic hosts. It is shown that the Fermi-LAT is sufficiently sensitive for detecting up to a few nearby dark matter subhalos in terms of faint gamma-ray sources with a moderate angular extent. Searches in the first and second Fermi-LAT source catalogs reveal about ten candidate sources each. To discriminate the source candidates from conventional astrophysical objects, an analysis for spectral, spatial, positional, and temporal gamma-ray properties using 3.5 years of Fermi-LAT data is carried out. In addition, a multi-wavelength analysis of archival data or follow-up observations in the radio, infrared, optical, UV, X-ray, high-energy, and very-high energy gamma-ray bands is carried out. The broad-band spectra of all promising candidates are compatible with AGN, in particular high-energy peaked BL-Lac type objects (HBLs). Dark matter annihilation can contribute to the small-scale angular anisotropy spectrum of the diffuse gamma-ray background (DGB). The detection capabilities of currently operating imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and the planned Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) are studied. With CTA, a relative gamma-ray contribution from annihilating dark matter of 10% to the extragalactic DGB can be resolved via angular anisotropies. In terms of the dark

  10. Searching for Dark Matter in the Mono-Jet and Mono-Photon Channels with the ATLAS Detector

    CERN Document Server

    Ratti, Maria Giulia; Carminati, Leonardo

    This work presents searches for dark matter particles in the mono-jet and mono-photon final states using the data collected by the ATLAS experiment during 2015 and 2016. The thesis starts with an introduction to the basic concepts of the Standard Model, followed by a discussion of the dark matter problem and the WIMP hypothesis. The focus then shifts to the description of the experimental facilities to collect the data and reconstruct the collision events. Particular focus is put on the reconstruction and performance of the missing transverse momentum. After characterizing a few theoretical models predicting dark matter particles in the mono-photon and mono-jet final states, the searches in these two signatures are thoroughly discussed, with particular focus on the background estimation techniques. While no significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are found, the results obtained by these searches further restrict the phase-space where the dark matter particles can lie.

  11. Testing and Characterization of SuperCDMS Dark Matter Detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shank, Benjamin [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

    2014-05-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) relies on collection of phonons and charge carriers in semiconductors held at tens of milliKelvin as handles for detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). This thesis begins with a brief overview of the direct dark matter search (Chapter 1) and SuperCDMS detectors (Chapter 2). In Chapter 3, a 3He evaporative refrigerator facility is described. Results from experiments performed in-house at Stanford to measure carrier transport in high-purity germanium (HPGe) crystals operated at sub-Kelvin temperatures are presented in Chapter 4. Finally, in Chapter 5 a new numerical model and a time-domain optimal filtering technique are presented, both developed for use with superconducting Transition Edge Sensors (TESs), that provide excellent event reconstruction for single particle interactions in detectors read out with superconducting W-TESs coupled to energy-collecting films of Al. This thesis is not intended to be read straight through. For those new to CDMS or dark matter searches, the first two chapters are meant to be a gentle introduction for experimentalists. They are by no means exhaustive. The remaining chapters each stand alone, with different audiences.

  12. Dark matter analysis of XENON100 data and cut development utilizing the novel PAX raw data processor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wittweg, Christian [Institut fuer Kernphysik, Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet, Muenster (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    The XENON100 experiment located at LNGS is aimed at the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). It utilizes an ultra-low background dual-phase xenon TPC which yields two separate scintillation signals that facilitate background discrimination and event selection. Limits on various interaction types have been published by the collaboration (Science 349 (2015) 6250, 851-854). In the analysis dark matter candidate events have to pass cuts with respect to data quality, consistency and physical features of the interaction. The former ones are implemented with regard to the used data processor's capabilities for noise discrimination and peak-finding. The Processor for Analyzing Xenon (PAX), developed for the XENON1T experiment, enhances these capabilities compared to XENON100. A greater robustness against noise and an increased peak-identification efficiency open up new opportunities for physically motivated cuts while rendering old ones obsolete. The poster will focus on the implementation of new cuts into the analysis chain. Both PAX and the xenon analysis will be introduced. A planned full-scale dark matter analysis of PAX-processed XENON100 data will be outlined.

  13. Searches for dark matter self-annihilation signals from dwarf spheroidal galaxies and the Fornax galaxy cluster with imaging air Cherenkov telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Opitz, Bjoern Helmut Bastian

    2014-06-01

    Many astronomical observations indicate that dark matter pervades the universe and dominates the formation and dynamics of cosmic structures. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with masses in the GeV to TeV range form a popular class of dark matter candidates. WIMP self-annihilation may lead to the production of γ-rays in the very high energy regime above 100 GeV, which is observable with imaging air Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). For this thesis, observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph) and the Fornax galaxy cluster with the Cherenkov telescope systems H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS were used to search for γ-ray signals of dark matter annihilations. The work consists of two parts: First, a likelihood-based statistical technique was introduced to combine published results of dSph observations with the different IACTs. The technique also accounts for uncertainties on the ''J factors'', which quantify the dark matter content of the dwarf galaxies. Secondly, H.E.S.S. observations of the Fornax cluster were analyzed. In this case, a collection of dark matter halo models was used for the J factor computation. In addition, possible signal enhancements from halo substructures were considered. None of the searches yielded a significant γ-ray signal. Therefore, the results were used to place upper limits on the thermally averaged dark matter self-annihilation cross-section left angle σν right angle. Different models for the final state of the annihilation process were considered. The cross-section limits range from left angle σν right angle UL ∝10 -19 cm 3 s -1 to left angle σν right angle UL ∝10 -25 cm 3 s -1 for dark matter particles masses between 100 GeV and 100 TeV. Some of the diverse model uncertainties causing this wide range of left angle σν right angle UL values were analyzed.

  14. Dark energy equation of state and anthropic selection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garriga, Jaume; Linde, Andrei; Vilenkin, Alexander

    2004-01-01

    We explore the possibility that the dark energy is due to a potential of a scalar field and that the magnitude and the slope of this potential in our part of the Universe are largely determined by anthropic selection effects. We find that, in some models, the most probable values of the slope are very small, implying that the dark energy density stays constant to very high accuracy throughout cosmological evolution. In other models, however, the most probable values of the slope are such that the slow roll condition is only marginally satisfied, leading to a recollapse of the local universe on a time scale comparable to the lifetime of the Sun. In the latter case, the effective equation of state varies appreciably with the redshift, leading to a number of testable predictions

  15. Search for Dark Matter In events with heavy quarks and missing transverse energy with the ATLAS detector

    CERN Document Server

    Afik, Yoav; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    A wide search program is being carried at the LHC under the hypothesis that Dark Matter (DM) consists of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Final states with heavy flavour quarks and large momentum imbalance represent an interesting discovery signature which allows to probe models with scalar or pseudo-scalar interactions between the Standard Model and the dark sector under the assumption of Minimal Flavour Violation. We present the most recent results of searches for DM produced in association with a pair of heavy flavour quarks (DM+HF) in ATLAS [1-2] based on 36.1 fb-1 of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre of mass energy of 13 TeV.

  16. Search for Low-Mass Dark Matter wtih SuperCDMS Soudan and Study of Shorted Electric Field Configurations in CDMS Detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schneck, Kristiana [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

    2015-01-01

    The area of dark matter is one of the most interesting and exciting topics in physics today. Existing at the intersection of particle physics and astrophysics, the existence of a new dark matter particle can be used to explain many astrophysical and cosmological observations, as well as to reconcile outstanding issues in the standard model of particle physics. Experiments such as SuperCDMS are built to detect dark matter in the lab by looking for low-energy nuclear recoils produced by collisions between dark matter particles and atoms in terrestrial detectors. SuperCDMS Soudan is particularly well-suited to follow up on possible hints of low-mass dark matter seen by other recent experiments because of its low thresholds and excellent background discrimination. Analyzing SuperCDMS Soudan data to look for low-mass dark matter comes with particular challenges because of the low signal-to-noise very near threshold. However, with a detailed background model developed by scaling high-energy events down into the low-energy signal region, SuperCDMS Soudan produced worldleading limits on the existence of low-mass dark matter. In addition, a few SuperCDMS Soudan detectors experienced cold hardware problems that can affect the data collected. Of particular interest is one detector considered for the low-mass WIMP search that has one of its charge electrodes shorted to chassis ground. Three events were observed in this detector upon unblinding the SuperCDMS Soudan low-energy data, even though <1 event was expected based on pre-unblinding calulations. However, the data collected by the shorted detector may have been compromised since an electrode shorted to ground will modify the electric field in the detector. The SuperCDMS Detector Monte Carlo (DMC) provides an excellent way to model the effects of the modified electric field, so a new model of the expected backgrounds in the low-mass WIMP search is developed using the DMC to try to explain how the short may have affected the

  17. Ultra-cold WIMPs relics of non-standard pre-BBN cosmologies

    CERN Document Server

    Gelmini, Graciela B

    2008-01-01

    We point out that in scenarios in which the Universe evolves in a non-standard manner during and after the kinetic decoupling of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), these relics can be much colder than in standard cosmological scenarios (i.e. can be ultra-cold), possibly leading to the formation of smaller first objects in hierarchical structure formation scenarios.

  18. Background Characterization and Discrimination in the Final Analysis of the CDMS II Phase of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fritts, Matthew C. [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

    2011-02-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) is designed to detectWeakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in the Milky Way halo. The phase known as CDMS II was performed in the Soudan Underground Laboratory. The final set of CDMS II data, collected in 2007-8 and referred to as Runs 125-8, represents the largest exposure to date for the experiment. We seek collisions between WIMPs and atomic nuclei in disk-shaped germanium and silicon detectors. A key design feature is to keep the rate of collisions from known particles producing WIMP-like signals very small. The largest category of such background is interactions with electrons in the detectors that occur very close to one of the faces of the detector. The next largest category is collisions between energetic neutrons that bypass the experimental shielding and nuclei in the detectors. Analytical efforts to discriminate these backgrounds and to estimate the rate at which such discrimination fails have been refined and improved throughout each phase of CDMS. Next-generation detectors for future phases of CDMS require testing at cryogenic test facilities. One such facility was developed at the University of Minnesota in 2007 and has been used continuously since then to test detectors for the next phase of the experiment, known as SuperCDMS.

  19. Search For Dark Matter Produced in Association With a Bottom-Quark In Proton-Proton Collision at $\\sqrt{s} = $ 8 TeV With the CMS Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(CDS)2088829; Wan Abdullah, Wan Ahmad Tajuddin Bin

    Dark Matter is a hypothetical particle proposed to explain the missing matter discovered from the cosmological observation. The motivation of Dark Matter is overwhelming, however those studies mainly deduced from gravitational interaction which does little to understand the underlying structure of the particle. On the other hand, the WIMP Miracle motivating dark matter production at weak scale, implying the possibility of detecting dark matter in LHC. Assuming Dark Matter is the only new particle accessible in LHC, it is expected to be pair produced in association with a Standard Model particles which can be inferred from the Transverse Missing Energy. Search for dark matter in monojet final state is a dominant channel in placing model-independent constrains on a set of effective operators coupling Dark Matter to Standard Model particle. However in the case of effective operators generated by the exchange of heavy scalar mediator, the inclusive Monojet channel is weakened due to the light quark suppression. A...

  20. A search for particle dark matter using cryogenic germanium and silicon detectors in the one- and two- tower runs of CDMS-II at Soudan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ogburn, Reuben Walter IV

    2008-01-01

    Images of the Bullet Cluster of galaxies in visible light, X-rays, and through gravitational lensing confirm that most of the matter in the universe is not composed of any known form of matter. The combined evidence from the dynamics of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, the cosmic microwave background, big bang nucleosynthesis, and other observations indicates that 80% of the universe's matter is dark, nearly collisionless, and cold. The identify of the dar, matter remains unknown, but weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are a very good candidate. They are a natural part of many supersymmetric extensions to the standard model, and could be produced as a nonrelativistic, thermal relic in the early universe with about the right density to account for the missing mass. The dark matter of a galaxy should exist as a spherical or ellipsoidal cloud, called a 'halo' because it extends well past the edge of the visible galaxy. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) seeks to directly detect interactions between WIMPs in the Milky Way's galactic dark matter halo using crystals of germanium and silicon. Our Z-sensitive ionization and phonon ('ZIP') detectors simultaneously measure both phonons and ionization produced by particle interactions. In order to find very rare, low-energy WIMP interactions, they must identify and reject background events caused by environmental radioactivity, radioactive contaminants on the detector,s and cosmic rays. In particular, sophisticated analysis of the timing of phonon signals is needed to eliminate signals caused by beta decays at the detector surfaces. This thesis presents the firs two dark matter data sets from the deep underground experimental site at the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. These are known as 'Run 118', with six detectors (1 kg Ge, 65.2 live days before cuts) and 'Run 119', with twelve detectors (1.5 kg Ge, 74.5 live days before cuts). They have analyzed all data from the two runs together in a single

  1. Detection of WIMPs in the Edelweiss experiment. Study of the radioactive background noise and measurements with bolometers; Recherche des wimp's du halo galactique dans l'experience edelweiss: etude du bas bruit radioactif et mesures a l'aide de bolometres a double detection ionisation/chaleur

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miramonti, L. [CEA/Saclay, Dept. d' Astrophysique, de la Physique des Particules, de la Physique Nucleaire et de l' Instrumentation Associee (DAPNIA), 91 - Gif-sur-Yvette (France)]|[Paris-11 Univ., 91 - Orsay (France)

    1999-11-01

    This thesis is dedicated to the detection of black matter in the form of WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particle). The characteristics of the interaction of WIMPs with matter are recalled. The very low number of expected events (<1 event/day.Kg) implies a radioactive background noise as weak as possible, furthermore the exponential decrease of the interacting rate with increasing energy calls for detectors with very low thresholds. Bolometers present advantages in WIMPs detection: i) very good resolution and very low thresholds, ii) very broad range of materials that can be used as absorber, the only requirements are: a crystal structure, to be a diamagnetic isolator and to have a convenient Debye temperature, iii) the possibility of detecting ionizing or non-ionizing particles, iv) the possibility of identifying the incident particle by measuring both temperature and another parameter such as ionization or scintillation, and v) the possibility of localizing the interaction inside the absorber by detecting ballistic phonons. The problematic of radioactive background noise is presented and the answers to the different sources (cosmic radiation,natural and artificial radioactivity) generating the background noise are examined. The materials used in the building of the detector and cryostat must be carefully chosen, they should be as little radioactive as possible. The test benches used to select materials for the Edelweiss experiment are described. The first measurements concerning the detectors Ge-4 and Ge-7 are presented. (A.C.)

  2. EDITORIAL: Focus on Dark Matter and Particle Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aprile, Elena; Profumo, Stefano

    2009-10-01

    The quest for the nature of dark matter has reached a historical point in time, with several different and complementary experiments on the verge of conclusively exploring large portions of the parameter space of the most theoretically compelling particle dark matter models. This focus issue on dark matter and particle physics brings together a broad selection of invited articles from the leading experimental and theoretical groups in the field. The leitmotif of the collection is the need for a multi-faceted search strategy that includes complementary experimental and theoretical techniques with the common goal of a sound understanding of the fundamental particle physical nature of dark matter. These include theoretical modelling, high-energy colliders and direct and indirect searches. We are confident that the works collected here present the state of the art of this rapidly changing field and will be of interest to both experts in the topic of dark matter as well as to those new to this exciting field. Focus on Dark Matter and Particle Physics Contents DARK MATTER AND ASTROPHYSICS Scintillator-based detectors for dark matter searches I S K Kim, H J Kim and Y D Kim Cosmology: small-scale issues Joel R Primack Big Bang nucleosynthesis and particle dark matter Karsten Jedamzik and Maxim Pospelov Particle models and the small-scale structure of dark matter Torsten Bringmann DARK MATTER AND COLLIDERS Dark matter in the MSSM R C Cotta, J S Gainer, J L Hewett and T G Rizzo The role of an e+e- linear collider in the study of cosmic dark matter M Battaglia Collider, direct and indirect detection of supersymmetric dark matter Howard Baer, Eun-Kyung Park and Xerxes Tata INDIRECT PARTICLE DARK MATTER SEARCHES:EXPERIMENTS PAMELA and indirect dark matter searches M Boezio et al An indirect search for dark matter using antideuterons: the GAPS experiment C J Hailey Perspectives for indirect dark matter search with AMS-2 using cosmic-ray electrons and positrons B Beischer, P von

  3. The impact of baryons on the direct detection of dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kelso, Chris [Department of Physics, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224 (United States); Savage, Christopher; Freese, Katherine [Nordita, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden); Valluri, Monica [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Stinson, Gregory S. [Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg (Germany); Bailin, Jeremy, E-mail: ckelso@unf.edu, E-mail: chris@savage.name, E-mail: mvalluri@umich.edu, E-mail: ktfreese@umich.edu, E-mail: stinson@mpia.de, E-mail: jbailin@ua.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States)

    2016-08-01

    The spatial and velocity distributions of dark matter particles in the Milky Way Halo affect the signals expected to be observed in searches for dark matter. Results from direct detection experiments are often analyzed assuming a simple isothermal distribution of dark matter, the Standard Halo Model (SHM). Yet there has been skepticism regarding the validity of this simple model due to the complicated gravitational collapse and merger history of actual galaxies. In this paper we compare the SHM to the results of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation to investigate whether or not the SHM is a good representation of the true WIMP distribution in the analysis of direct detection data. We examine two Milky Way-like galaxies from the MaGICC cosmological simulations (a) with dark matter only and (b) with baryonic physics included. The inclusion of baryons drives the shape of the DM halo to become more spherical and makes the velocity distribution of dark matter particles less anisotropic especially at large heliocentric velocities, thereby making the SHM a better fit. We also note that we do not find a significant disk-like rotating dark matter component in either of the two galaxy halos with baryons that we examine, suggesting that dark disks are not a generic prediction of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We conclude that in the Solar neighborhood, the SHM is in fact a good approximation to the true dark matter distribution in these cosmological simulations (with baryons) which are reasonable representations of the Milky Way, and hence can also be used for the purpose of dark matter direct detection calculations.

  4. arXiv Probing compressed dark sectors at 100 TeV in the dileptonic mono-Z channel

    CERN Document Server

    Mahbubani, Rakhi

    We examine the sensitivity at a future 100 TeV proton-proton collider to compressed dark sectors whose decay products are invisible due to below-threshold energies and/or small couplings to the Standard Model. This scenario could be relevant to models of WIMP dark matter, where the lightest New Physics state is an (isolated) electroweak multiplet whose lowest component is stable on cosmological timescales. We rely on the additional emission of a hard on-shell $Z$-boson decaying to leptons, a channel with low background systematics, and include a careful estimate of the real and fake backgrounds to this process in our analysis. We show that an integrated luminosity of 30 ab$^{-1}$ would allow exclusion of a TeV-scale compressed dark sector with inclusive production cross section of 0.3 fb, for 1\\% background systematic uncertainty and splittings below 5 GeV. This translates to exclusion of a pure higgsino (wino) multiplet with mass of 500 (970) GeV.

  5. Radiopurity of CaWO{sub 4} crystals for direct dark matter search with CRESST and EURECA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muenster, Andrea [Physik Department E15, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, 85748 Garching (Germany); Collaboration: CRESST-Collaboration

    2015-07-01

    The direct dark matter search experiment CRESST uses scintillating CaWO{sub 4} single crystals as targets for possible WIMP recoils. A particle interaction in the crystal produces phonons as well as scintillation light. As the light signal is dependent on the kind of interacting particle, e{sup -}-recoils and α-decays mainly originating from intrinsic impurities of the crystal can be discriminated from nuclear recoils (e.g. due to possible WIMP scatterings). To achieve the best possible discrimination a high light output and a high radiopurity of the crystals are crucial. Since 2011 CaWO{sub 4} crystals are grown in the crystal lab of TU Munich. In this way we can directly influence the growth parameters and find a method to improve light output and radiopurity which is required by CRESST and the future tonne-scale multi-material experiment EURECA. In this talk we will discuss the investigated radiopurity of the raw materials WO{sub 3} and CaCO{sub 3} as well as of TUM-grown crystals which are currently taking data in CRESST II Phase 2.

  6. Status of dark matter searches in the boulby mine

    CERN Document Server

    Hart, S P

    2002-01-01

    We present the current status and future plans for dark matter searches in the Boulby Mine. A 50 kg array of NaI(Tl) crystals is under construction and a method of suppressing anomalous, fast signals in such detectors is described. Liquid Xe based detectors, with improved background rejection, are under development. The first of these, ZEPLIN I, is already deployed and uses pulse shape discrimination. ZEPLIN II and III measure the ratio of ionisation to scintillation by use of an electric field to extract ionisation from the liquid into a gas phase. Finally a low pressure gas drift chamber with directional sensitivity has been installed, larger versions of which will enable a search for correlations between any WIMP signal and galactic motion.

  7. Data acquisition and analysis for the Edelweiss dark matter search experiment; Acquisition et analyse des donnees pour l'experience de recherche de matiere noire EDELWEISS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fiorucci, S

    2005-09-01

    The EDELWEISS experiment aims to detect WIMPs, hypothetical and elusive particles which could possibly amount for all or part of the dark matter in the universe. For that purpose, it uses cryogenic germanium detectors able to record both the rise in temperature and the ionisation created by a WIMP interaction in the semi-conductor crystal bulk. This thesis work focuses on the last data taking campaign of phase I of the experiment. It is centered around three main points. In a first part, we present the elaboration of a new numerical acquisition system, based on a heat channel trigger, contrary to the previous system which was based on an ionisation channel trigger. In a second part, we expose the complete analysis of the data acquired with this new system, from the calibration of each measurement channel to the extraction of a result in terms of sensitivity to a WIMP signal. Lastly, we dedicate a whole chapter to a further analysis of the high energy data, as well as to the interpretation of the different radioactive backgrounds we observe, in order to prepare the next phase of the experiment due to begin at the end of 2005. (author)

  8. Search for dark matter candidates and large extra dimensions in events with a photon and missing transverse momentum in pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aad, G.; Abajyan, T.; Abbott, B.; Böhm, Jan; Chudoba, Jiří; Gallus, Petr; Gunther, Jaroslav; Jakoubek, Tomáš; Juránek, Vojtěch; Kepka, Oldřich; Kupčo, Alexander; Kůs, Vlastimil; Lokajíček, Miloš; Marčišovský, Michal; Mikeštíková, Marcela; Myška, Miroslav; Němeček, Stanislav; Růžička, Pavel; Schovancová, Jaroslava; Šícho, Petr; Staroba, Pavel; Svatoš, Michal; Taševský, Marek; Tic, Tomáš; Valenta, J.; Vrba, Václav; Zeman, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 110, č. 1 (2013), "011802-1"-"011802-6" ISSN 0031-9007 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LA08032 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : scattering * dark matter * photon * final state * ATLAS * space-time * higher-dimensional * WIMP * pair production * CERN LHC Coll Subject RIV: BG - Nuclear, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Colliders Impact factor: 7.728, year: 2013

  9. Dark Matter searches using gravitational wave bar detectors: quark nuggets and newtorites

    CERN Document Server

    Bassan, M; D'Antonio, S.; Fafone, V.; Giordano, G.; Marini, A.; Minenkov, Y.; Modena, I.; Pallottino, G.V.; Pizzella, G.; Rocchi, A.; Ronga, F.; Visco, M.

    2016-01-01

    Many experiments have searched for supersymmetric WIMP dark matter, with null results. This may suggest to look for more exotic possibilities, for example compact ultra-dense quark nuggets, widely discussed in literature with several different names. Nuclearites are an example of candidate compact objects with atomic size cross section. After a short discussion on nuclearites, the result of a nuclearite search with the gravitational wave bar detectors Nautilus and Explorer is reported. The geometrical acceptance of the bar detectors is 19.5 $\\rm m^2$ sr, that is smaller than that of other detectors used for similar searches. However, the detection mechanism is completely different and is more straightforward than in other detectors. The experimental limits we obtain are of interest because, for nuclearites of mass less than $10^{-5}$ g, we find a flux smaller than that one predicted considering nuclearites as dark matter candidates. Particles with gravitational only interactions (newtorites) are another examp...

  10. Search for annihilating dark matter in the Sun with 3 years of IceCube data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aartsen, M.G.; Hill, G.C.; Robertson, S.; Wallace, A.; Whelan, B.J. [University of Adelaide, Department of Physics, Adelaide (Australia); Ackermann, M.; Bernardini, E.; Blot, S.; Bretz, H.P.; Franckowiak, A.; Jacobi, E.; Karg, T.; Kintscher, T.; Kunwar, S.; Nahnhauer, R.; Satalecka, K.; Spiering, C.; Stasik, A.; Strotjohann, N.L.; Terliuk, A.; Usner, M.; Santen, J. van [DESY, Zeuthen (Germany); Adams, J. [University of Canterbury, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch (New Zealand); Aguilar, J.A.; Ansseau, I.; Heereman, D.; Meagher, K.; Meures, T.; O' Murchadha, A.; Pinat, E.; Raab, C. [Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Science Faculty CP230, Brussels (Belgium); Ahlers, M.; Braun, J.; Chirkin, D.; Day, M.; Desiati, P.; Diaz-Velez, J.C.; Fahey, S.; Feintzeig, J.; Ghorbani, K.; Gladstone, L.; Griffith, Z.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Jero, K.; Karle, A.; Kauer, M.; Kelley, J.L.; Kheirandish, A.; Krueger, C.; Mancina, S.; McNally, F.; Merino, G.; Sabbatini, L.; Tobin, M.N.; Tosi, D.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Van Rossem, M.; Wandkowsky, N.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Wille, L.; Xu, D.L. [University of Wisconsin, Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, Madison, WI (United States); Ahrens, M.; Bohm, C.; Dumm, J.P.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Hultqvist, K.; Walck, C.; Wolf, M.; Zoll, M. [Stockholm University, Department of Physics, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm (Sweden); Altmann, D.; Anton, G.; Gluesenkamp, T.; Katz, U.; Kittler, T.; Tselengidou, M. [Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Erlangen (Germany); Andeen, K. [Marquette University, Department of Physics, Milwaukee, WI (United States); Anderson, T.; Dunkman, M.; Eller, P.; Huang, F.; Keivani, A.; Lanfranchi, J.L.; Pankova, D.V.; Quinnan, M.; Tesic, G.; Weiss, M.J. [Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, University Park, PA (United States); Archinger, M.; Baum, V.; Boeser, S.; Pino Rosendo, E. del; Lorenzo, V. di; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Foesig, C.C.; Koepke, L.; Krueckl, G.; Peiffer, P.; Sandroos, J.; Steuer, A.; Wiebe, K. [University of Mainz, Institute of Physics, Mainz (Germany); Argueelles, C.; Axani, S.; Collin, G.H.; Conrad, J.M.; Jones, B.J.P.; Moulai, M. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Cambridge, MA (United States); Auffenberg, J.; Bissok, M.; Glauch, T.; Haack, C.; Hansmann, T.; Konietz, R.; Leuermann, M.; Penek, Oe.; Raedel, L.; Reimann, R.; Rongen, M.; Schoenen, S.; Schumacher, L.; Stettner, J.; Vehring, M.; Vogel, E.; Wallraff, M.; Wickmann, S.; Wiebusch, C.H. [RWTH Aachen University, III. Physikalisches Institut, Aachen (Germany); Bai, X. [South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Physics Department, Rapid City, SD (United States); Barwick, S.W.; Yodh, G. [University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Irvine, CA (United States); Bay, R.; Filimonov, K.; Price, P.B.; Woschnagg, K. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Beatty, J.J. [Ohio State University, Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Columbus, OH (United States); Ohio State University, Department of Astronomy, Columbus, OH (United States); Becker Tjus, J.; Bos, F.; Eichmann, B.; Kroll, M.; Mandelartz, M.; Schoeneberg, S.; Tenholt, F. [Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Fakultaet fuer Physik and Astronomie, Bochum (Germany); Becker, K.H.; Bindig, D.; Helbing, K.; Hickford, S.; Hoffmann, R.; Kopper, S.; Lauber, F.; Naumann, U.; Obertacke Pollmann, A.; Soldin, D. [University of Wuppertal, Department of Physics, Wuppertal (Germany); BenZvi, S.; Cross, R. [University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, NY (United States); Berley, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Cheung, E.; Felde, J.; Friedman, E.; Hellauer, R.; Hoffman, K.D.; Maunu, R.; Olivas, A.; Schmidt, T.; Song, M.; Sullivan, G.W. [University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD (United States); Bernhard, A.; Coenders, S.; Huber, M.; Krings, K.; Resconi, E.; Turcati, A. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Physik-Department, Garching (Germany); Besson, D.Z. [University of Kansas, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lawrence, KS (United States); Binder, G.; Gerhardt, L.; Klein, S.R.; Miarecki, S.; Palczewski, T.; Tatar, J. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Boerner, M.; Fuchs, T.; Meier, M.; Menne, T.; Pieloth, D.; Rhode, W.; Ruhe, T.; Sandrock, A.; Schlunder, P. [TU Dortmund University, Department of Physics, Dortmund (Germany); Bose, D.; Dujmovic, H.; In, S.; Jeong, M.; Kang, W.; Kim, J.; Kim, M.; Rott, C. [Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Physics, Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Collaboration: IceCube Collaboration; and others

    2017-03-15

    We present results from an analysis looking for dark matter annihilation in the Sun with the IceCube neutrino telescope. Gravitationally trapped dark matter in the Sun's core can annihilate into Standard Model particles making the Sun a source of GeV neutrinos. IceCube is able to detect neutrinos with energies >100 GeV while its low-energy infill array DeepCore extends this to >10 GeV. This analysis uses data gathered in the austral winters between May 2011 and May 2014, corresponding to 532 days of live time when the Sun, being below the horizon, is a source of up-going neutrino events, easiest to discriminate against the dominant background of atmospheric muons. The sensitivity is a factor of two to four better than previous searches due to additional statistics and improved analysis methods involving better background rejection and reconstructions. The resultant upper limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section reach down to 1.46 x 10{sup -5} pb for a dark matter particle of mass 500 GeV annihilating exclusively into τ{sup +}τ{sup -} particles. These are currently the most stringent limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section for WIMP masses above 50 GeV. (orig.)

  11. Search for dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center with IceCube-79

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aartsen, M.G.; Hill, G.C.; Robertson, S.; Whelan, B.J.; Abraham, K.; Bernhard, A.; Coenders, S.; Gross, A.; Holzapfel, K.; Huber, M.; Jurkovic, M.; Krings, K.; Resconi, E.; Veenkamp, J.; Ackermann, M.; Berghaus, P.; Bernardini, E.; Bretz, H.P.; Cruz Silva, A.H.; Gluesenkamp, T.; Gora, D.; Jacobi, E.; Kaminsky, B.; Karg, T.; Middell, E.; Mohrmann, L.; Nahnhauer, R.; Schoenwald, A.; Shanidze, R.; Spiering, C.; Stasik, A.; Stoessl, A.; Strotjohann, N.L.; Terliuk, A.; Usner, M.; Yanez, J.P.; Adams, J.; Brown, A.M.; Aguilar, J.A.; Heereman, D.; Meagher, K.; Meures, T.; O'Murchadha, A.; Pinat, E.; Ahlers, M.; Arguelles, C.; Beiser, E.; BenZvi, S.; Braun, J.; Chirkin, D.; Day, M.; Desiati, P.; Diaz-Velez, J.C.; Fadiran, O.; Fahey, S.; Feintzeig, J.; Ghorbani, K.; Gladstone, L.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Hoshina, K.; Jero, K.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J.L.; Kheirandish, A.; McNally, F.; Merino, G.; Middlemas, E.; Morse, R.; Richter, S.; Sabbatini, L.; Tobin, M.N.; Tosi, D.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Van Santen, J.; Wandkowsky, N.; Weaver, C.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whitehorn, N.; Wille, L.; Ahrens, M.; Bohm, C.; Dumm, J.P.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Hulth, P.O.; Hultqvist, K.; Walck, C.; Wolf, M.; Zoll, M.; Altmann, D.; Classen, L.; Kappes, A.; Tselengidou, M.; Anderson, T.; Arlen, T.C.; Dunkman, M.; Eagan, R.; Groh, J.C.; Huang, F.; Keivani, A.; Lanfranchi, J.L.; Quinnan, M.; Smith, M.W.E.; Stanisha, N.A.; Tesic, G.; Archinger, M.; Baum, V.; Boeser, S.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Koepke, L.; Kroll, G.; Luenemann, J.; Sander, H.G.; Schatto, K.; Wiebe, K.; Auffenberg, J.; Bissok, M.; Blumenthal, J.; Glagla, M.; Gier, D.; Gretskov, P.; Haack, C.; Hansmann, B.; Hellwig, D.; Kemp, J.; Konietz, R.; Koob, A.; Leuermann, M.; Leuner, J.; Paul, L.; Puetz, J.; Raedel, L.; Reimann, R.; Rongen, M.; Schimp, M.; Schoenen, S.; Schukraft, A.; Stahlberg, M.; Vehring, M.; Wallraff, M.; Wichary, C.; Wiebusch, C.H.; Bai, X.; Barwick, S.W.; Yodh, G.; Bay, R.; Filimonov, K.; Price, P.B.; Woschnagg, K.; Beatty, J.J.; Becker Tjus, J.; Bos, F.; Eichmann, B.; Fedynitch, A.; Kroll, M.; Saba, S.M.; Schoeneberg, S.; Becker, K.H.; Bindig, D.; Fischer-Wasels, T.; Helbing, K.; Hickford, S.; Hoffmann, R.; Klaes, J.; Kopper, S.; Naumann, U.; Obertacke, A.; Omairat, A.; Posselt, J.; Soldin, D.; Berley, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Cheung, E.; Christy, B.; Felde, J.; Hellauer, R.; Hoffman, K.D.; Huelsnitz, W.; Maunu, R.; Olivas, A.; Redl, P.; Schmidt, T.; Sullivan, G.W.; Wissing, H.; Besson, D.Z.; Binder, G.; Gerhardt, L.; Ha, C.; Klein, S.R.; Miarecki, S.; Boersma, D.J.; Botner, O.; Euler, S.; Hallgren, A.

    2015-01-01

    The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, new and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. No neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, left angle σ A right angle, for WIMP masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to ≅ 4 . 10 -24 cm 3 s -1 , and ≅ 2.6 . 10 -23 cm 3 s -1 for the νanti ν channel, respectively. (orig.)

  12. Direct dark matter search by annual modulation in XMASS-I

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Abe

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available A search for dark matter was conducted by looking for an annual modulation signal due to the Earth's rotation around the Sun using XMASS, a single phase liquid xenon detector. The data used for this analysis was 359.2 live days times 832 kg of exposure accumulated between November 2013 and March 2015. When we assume Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP dark matter elastically scattering on the target nuclei, the exclusion upper limit of the WIMP–nucleon cross section 4.3×10−41 cm2 at 8 GeV/c2 was obtained and we exclude almost all the DAMA/LIBRA allowed region in the 6 to 16 GeV/c2 range at ∼10−40 cm2. The result of a simple modulation analysis, without assuming any specific dark matter model but including electron/γ events, showed a slight negative amplitude. The p-values obtained with two independent analyses are 0.014 and 0.068 for null hypothesis, respectively. We obtained 90% C.L. upper bounds that can be used to test various models. This is the first extensive annual modulation search probing this region with an exposure comparable to DAMA/LIBRA.

  13. Leptogenesis scenarios for natural SUSY with mixed axion-higgsino dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bae, Kyu Jung; Baer, Howard; Serce, Hasan; Zhang, Yi-Fan

    2016-01-01

    Supersymmetric models with radiatively-driven electroweak naturalness require light higgsinos of mass ∼ 100–300 GeV . Naturalness in the QCD sector is invoked via the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axion leading to mixed axion-higgsino dark matter. The SUSY DFSZ axion model provides a solution to the SUSY μ problem and the Little Hierarchy μ|| m 3/2 may emerge as a consequence of a mismatch between PQ and hidden sector mass scales. The traditional gravitino problem is now augmented by the axino and saxion problems, since these latter particles can also contribute to overproduction of WIMPs or dark radiation, or violation of BBN constraints. We compute regions of the T R vs. m 3/2 plane allowed by BBN, dark matter and dark radiation constraints for various PQ scale choices f a . These regions are compared to the values needed for thermal leptogenesis, non-thermal leptogenesis, oscillating sneutrino leptogenesis and Affleck-Dine leptogenesis. The latter three are allowed in wide regions of parameter space for PQ scale f a∼  10 10 –10 12 GeV which is also favored by naturalness: f a  ∼ √μM P /λ μ  ∼ 10 10 –10 12 GeV . These f a values correspond to axion masses somewhat above the projected ADMX search regions

  14. Constraining dark matter annihilation with the isotropic γ-ray background: Updated limits and future potential

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bringmann, Torsten; Calore, Francesca; Di Mauro, Mattia; Donato, Fiorenza

    2014-01-01

    The nature of the isotropic γ-ray background (IGRB) measured by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi γ-ray space telescope (Fermi) remains partially unexplained. Non-negligible contributions may originate from extragalactic populations of unresolved sources such as blazars, star-forming galaxies or galactic millisecond pulsars. A recent prediction of the diffuse γ-ray emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a large viewing angle with respect to the line of sight has demonstrated that this faint but numerous population is also expected to contribute significantly to the total IGRB intensity. A more exotic contribution to the IGRB invokes the pair annihilation of dark matter (DM) weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) into γ rays. In this work, we evaluate the room left for galactic DM at high latitudes (>10∘) by including photons from both prompt emission and inverse Compton scattering, emphasizing the impact of the newly discovered contribution from misaligned AGN (MAGN) for such an analysis. Summing up all significant galactic and extragalactic components of the IGRB, we find that an improved understanding of the associated astrophysical uncertainties is still mandatory to put stringent bounds on thermally produced DM. On the other hand, we also demonstrate that the IGRB has the potential to be one of the most competitive future ways to test the DM WIMP hypothesis, once the present uncertainties are even slightly reduced. In fact, if MAGN contribute even at 90% of the maximal level consistent with our current understanding, thermally produced WIMPs would be severely constrained as DM candidates for masses up to several TeV.

  15. A search for non-baryonic dark matter using an ionisation bolometer in the edelweiss experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Stefano, Ph.

    1998-01-01

    The EDELWEISS experiment is an underground direct-detection search for hypothetical supersymmetric WIMPs that might solve the problem of dark matter. We have employed a cryogenic 70 g germanium ionisation bolometer, in which a WIMP would scatter elastically off a nucleus, creating both a heat and an ionisation signal. To offset the various electronic noises present in our necessarily small signals, we have s applied an optimal filtering technique in the frequency domain. This allows us to reach resolutions of 1.2 keV FWHM at 122 keV on north channels. It also provides good separation right down to low energies between the expected signal of nuclear recoils, and the photonic background of electron recoils which ionize more for a given energy. Calibration data show that we are able to reject 99.7 % of this background, while keeping 95% of the signal. However, our 1.17 kg.days of data searching for WIMPs show a third population encroaching on the expected signal. This is probably due to low energy photons or electrons interacting in the outer layers of the crystal, where charges are incompletely collected. Nevertheless, by trading off half of the conserved signal, we still manage to reject 98.5 % of the background. Thus the raw rate of 40 evts/d/kg/keV yields a conservative 90 % upper limit on the signal of 0.6 evts/d/kg/keV. This represents nearly a three orders of magnitude improvement for EDELWEISS, and puts the predicted supersymmetric phase space within two orders of magnitude. (author)

  16. Identification of radiopure titanium for the LZ dark matter experiment and future rare event searches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akerib, D. S.; Akerlof, C. W.; Akimov, D. Yu.; Alsum, S. K.; Araújo, H. M.; Arnquist, I. J.; Arthurs, M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Balashov, S.; Barry, M. J.; Belle, J.; Beltrame, P.; Benson, T.; Bernard, E. P.; Bernstein, A.; Biesiadzinski, T. P.; Boast, K. E.; Bolozdynya, A.; Boxer, B.; Bramante, R.; Brás, P.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V. V.; Bunker, R.; Burdin, S.; Busenitz, J. K.; Carels, C.; Carlsmith, D. L.; Carlson, B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Cherwinka, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Cottle, A.; Coughlen, R.; Craddock, W. W.; Currie, A.; Dahl, C. E.; Davison, T. J. R.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J. E. Y.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edberg, T. K.; Edwards, W. R.; Emmet, W. T.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Fruth, T.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gantos, N. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Gerhard, R. M.; Ghag, C.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Gomber, B.; Hall, C. R.; Hans, S.; Hanzel, K.; Haselschwardt, S. J.; Hertel, S. A.; Hillbrand, S.; Hjemfelt, C.; Hoff, M. D.; Holbrook, B.; Holtom, E.; Hoppe, E. W.; Hor, J. Y.-K.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Hurteau, T. W.; Ignarra, C. M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Ji, W.; Kaboth, A.; Kamdin, K.; Kazkaz, K.; Khaitan, D.; Khazov, A.; Khromov, A. V.; Konovalov, A. M.; Korolkova, E. V.; Koyuncu, M.; Kraus, H.; Krebs, H. J.; Kudryavtsev, V. A.; Kumpan, A. V.; Kyre, S.; Lee, C.; Lee, H. S.; Lee, J.; Leonard, D. S.; Leonard, R.; Lesko, K. T.; Levy, C.; Liao, F.-T.; Lin, J.; Lindote, A.; Linehan, R. E.; Lippincott, W. H.; Liu, X.; Lopes, M. I.; Lopez Paredes, B.; Lorenzon, W.; Luitz, S.; Majewski, P.; Manalaysay, A.; Manenti, L.; Mannino, R. L.; Markley, D. J.; Martin, T. J.; Marzioni, M. F.; McConnell, C. T.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Meng, Y.; Miller, E. H.; Mizrachi, E.; Mock, J.; Monzani, M. E.; Morad, J. A.; Mount, B. J.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H. N.; Neves, F.; Nikkel, J. A.; O'Dell, J.; O'Sullivan, K.; Olcina, I.; Olevitch, M. A.; Oliver-Mallory, K. C.; Palladino, K. J.; Pease, E. K.; Piepke, A.; Powell, S.; Preece, R. M.; Pushkin, K.; Ratcliff, B. N.; Reichenbacher, J.; Reichhart, L.; Rhyne, C. A.; Richards, A.; Rodrigues, J. P.; Rose, H. J.; Rosero, R.; Rossiter, P.; Saba, J. S.; Sarychev, M.; Schnee, R. W.; Schubnell, M.; Scovell, P. R.; Shaw, S.; Shutt, T. A.; Silva, C.; Skarpaas, K.; Skulski, W.; Solmaz, M.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; Sosnovtsev, V. V.; Stancu, I.; Stark, M. R.; Stephenson, S.; Stiegler, T. M.; Stifter, K.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D. J.; Taylor, W. C.; Temples, D.; Terman, P. A.; Thomas, K. J.; Thomson, J. A.; Tiedt, D. R.; Timalsina, M.; To, W. H.; Tomás, A.; Tope, T. E.; Tripathi, M.; Tvrznikova, L.; Va'Vra, J.; Vacheret, A.; van der Grinten, M. G. D.; Verbus, J. R.; Vuosalo, C. O.; Waldron, W. L.; Wang, R.; Watson, R.; Webb, R. C.; Wei, W.-Z.; While, M.; White, D. T.; Whitis, T. J.; Wisniewski, W. J.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woodward, D.; Worm, S.; Xu, J.; Yeh, M.; Yin, J.; Zhang, C.; Lux-Zeplin (LZ) Collaboration

    2017-11-01

    The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a detector containing a total of 10 tonnes of liquid xenon within a double-vessel cryostat. The large mass and proximity of the cryostat to the active detector volume demand the use of material with extremely low intrinsic radioactivity. We report on the radioassay campaign conducted to identify suitable metals, the determination of factors limiting radiopure production, and the selection of titanium for construction of the LZ cryostat and other detector components. This titanium has been measured with activities of 238Ue < 1.6 mBq/kg, 238Ul < 0.09 mBq/kg, 232The = 0.28 ± 0.03 mBq/kg, 232Thl = 0.25 ± 0.02 mBq/kg, 40K < 0.54 mBq/kg, and 60Co < 0.02 mBq/kg (68% CL). Such low intrinsic activities, which are some of the lowest ever reported for titanium, enable its use for future dark matter and other rare event searches. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to assess the expected background contribution from the LZ cryostat with this radioactivity. In 1,000 days of WIMP search exposure of a 5.6-tonne fiducial mass, the cryostat will contribute only a mean background of 0.160 ± 0.001(stat) ± 0.030(sys) counts.

  17. Ratio of total-to-selective extinction in the Taurus dark cloud complex

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vrba, F.J.; Rydgren, A.E.; Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD)

    1985-01-01

    UBVRI and JHK photometry, as well as spectral classifications are presented for seven reddened early-type field stars that are observed through the Taurus dark cloud complex. The ratio of total-to-selective extinction is derived for each star by the color-difference method. For six stars with absolute magnitudes in violet of more than 1.7 and less than 3.2 mag, a normal ratio R of total-to-selective extinction of about 3.1 is found. The mildly anomalous R value of about 3.5 for the well-studied star HD 29647 was also confirmed. The results provide further evidence that the interstellar extinction law in the Taurus dark cloud complex is basically normal for lines of sight with absolute magnitudes in violet of less than 3 mag. 24 references

  18. Geneva University

    CERN Multimedia

    2010-01-01

    Ecole de physique Département de physique nucléaire et corspusculaire 24, quai Ernest-Ansermet 1211 GENEVE 4 Tel: (022) 379 62 73 Fax: (022) 379 69 92 Wednesday 14 April 2010 PARTICLE PHYSICS SEMINAR at 17.00 hrs – Stückelberg Auditorium Dark Matter and the XENON Experiment By Dr. Marc Schumann, Physik Institut, Universität Zürich There is convincing astrophysical and cosmological evidence that most of the matter in the Universe is dark: It is invisible in every band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are promising Dark Matter candidates that arise naturally in many theories beyond the Standard Model. Several experiments aim to directly detect WIMPs by measuring nuclear recoils from WIMPs scattered on target nuclei. In this talk, I will give an overview on Dark Matter and direct Dark Matter detection. Then I will focus on the XENON100 experiment, a 2-phase liquid/gas time projection chamber (TPC) that ...

  19. WIMP search and a Cherenkov detector prototype for ILC polarimetry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bartels, Christoph

    2011-10-15

    The planned International Linear Collider (ILC) will be an essential experiment to precisely determine the properties and structure of physics at the TeV scale. An important feature of the ILC is the possibility to use polarized electrons and positrons. In part 1 of this thesis, a model independent search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) at ILC is presented. The signal channel under study is direct WIMP pair production with associated Initial State Radiation (ISR), e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {chi}{chi}{gamma}, where the WIMPs leave the detector without any further interaction, and only the emitted photon is detected. From the energy spectrum of the detected photons the coupling structure, cross sections, masses and the quantum number of the dominant partial wave in the production process can be inferred. The analysis includes the dominant SM, as well as machine-induced backgrounds, and is performed using a full simulation of the ILD detector concept. For an integrated luminosity of L=500 fb{sup -1}, the signal cross sections can be measured to a precision of 3%, dominated by systematic uncertainties on the polarization measurement of the initial electrons and positrons. Masses can be measured to a precision of up to 2% by a comparison of the data photon spectrum to parametrized template spectra. In part 2 of this thesis, a Cherenkov detector prototype for Compton polarimetry at ILC is presented. For the polarization measurement a systematic uncertainty of {delta} P/P = 0.25% or better is envisioned. To achieve this goal, the Cherenkov detector has to be precisely aligned with the fan of Compton scattered electrons and its signal response needs to be highly linear. For the detector prototype data driven alignment strategies have been developed by comparing data recorded at the Elsa accelerator in Bonn, Germany, with detailed Geant4 simulations. With the use of multi-anode photomultipliers, data driven alignment strategies promise to provide the

  20. WIMP search and a Cherenkov detector prototype for ILC polarimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartels, Christoph

    2011-10-01

    The planned International Linear Collider (ILC) will be an essential experiment to precisely determine the properties and structure of physics at the TeV scale. An important feature of the ILC is the possibility to use polarized electrons and positrons. In part 1 of this thesis, a model independent search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) at ILC is presented. The signal channel under study is direct WIMP pair production with associated Initial State Radiation (ISR), e + e - → χχγ, where the WIMPs leave the detector without any further interaction, and only the emitted photon is detected. From the energy spectrum of the detected photons the coupling structure, cross sections, masses and the quantum number of the dominant partial wave in the production process can be inferred. The analysis includes the dominant SM, as well as machine-induced backgrounds, and is performed using a full simulation of the ILD detector concept. For an integrated luminosity of L=500 fb -1 , the signal cross sections can be measured to a precision of 3%, dominated by systematic uncertainties on the polarization measurement of the initial electrons and positrons. Masses can be measured to a precision of up to 2% by a comparison of the data photon spectrum to parametrized template spectra. In part 2 of this thesis, a Cherenkov detector prototype for Compton polarimetry at ILC is presented. For the polarization measurement a systematic uncertainty of δ P/P = 0.25% or better is envisioned. To achieve this goal, the Cherenkov detector has to be precisely aligned with the fan of Compton scattered electrons and its signal response needs to be highly linear. For the detector prototype data driven alignment strategies have been developed by comparing data recorded at the Elsa accelerator in Bonn, Germany, with detailed Geant4 simulations. With the use of multi-anode photomultipliers, data driven alignment strategies promise to provide the required precision. At ILC, these

  1. EDELWEISS: dark matter search from phase 2 to phase 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cazes, A.

    2014-01-01

    The EDELWEISS detector is located inside the Modane underground facility. The EDELWEISS-3 experiment searches for dark matter. Nuclear recoils are observed both by ionization and temperature measurements in Germanium bolometers; EDELWEISS-3 is an upgraded version of the EDELWEISS-2 experiment and will contain forty 800-g Ge detectors with a fully inter-digitized electrode readout scheme. Other improvements are the cryogenics, the shielding of the detectors and the front-end electronics that have been updated for improved data readout and noise reduction. Furthermore, a new analysis of EDELWEISS-2 data has been performed to extend the limits of Wimp search in the low mass region. The current status of EDELWEISS-3 will be discussed as well as the latest analysis results from EDELWEISS-2. (author)

  2. Light weakly interacting massive particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelmini, Graciela B.

    2017-08-01

    Light weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are dark matter particle candidates with weak scale interaction with the known particles, and mass in the GeV to tens of GeV range. Hints of light WIMPs have appeared in several dark matter searches in the last decade. The unprecedented possible coincidence into tantalizingly close regions of mass and cross section of four separate direct detection experimental hints and a potential indirect detection signal in gamma rays from the galactic center, aroused considerable interest in our field. Even if these hints did not so far result in a discovery, they have had a significant impact in our field. Here we review the evidence for and against light WIMPs as dark matter candidates and discuss future relevant experiments and observations.

  3. DARK STARS: A NEW LOOK AT THE FIRST STARS IN THE UNIVERSE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spolyar, Douglas; Bodenheimer, Peter; Freese, Katherine; Gondolo, Paolo

    2009-01-01

    We have proposed that the first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe may be dark (matter powered) stars (DSs), luminous objects powered by dark matter (DM) heating rather than by nuclear fusion, and in this paper we examine the history of these DSs. The power source is annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) which are their own antiparticles. These WIMPs are the best motivated DM candidates and may be discovered by ongoing direct or indirect detection searches (e.g., Fermi/GLAST) or at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. A new stellar phase results, powered by DM annihilation as long as there is a DM fuel, from millions to billions of years. We build up the DSs from the time DM heating becomes the dominant power source, accreting more and more matter onto them. We have included many new effects in the current study, including a variety of particle masses and accretion rates, nuclear burning, feedback mechanisms, and possible repopulation of DM density due to capture. Remarkably, we find that in all these cases, we obtain the same result: the first stars are very large, 500-1000 times as massive as the Sun; as well as puffy (radii 1-10 AU), bright (10 6 -10 7 L sun ), and cool (T surf sun and the temperatures are much hotter (T surf > 50,000 K). Hence DSs should be observationally distinct from standard Pop III stars. In addition, DSs avoid the (unobserved) element enrichment produced by the standard first stars. Once the DM fuel is exhausted, the DS becomes a heavy main-sequence star; these stars eventually collapse to form massive black holes that may provide seeds for the supermassive black holes observed at early times as well as explanations for recent ARCADE data and for intermediate-mass black holes.

  4. Connecting LHC, ILC, and quintessence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, Daniel J.H.; Everett, Lisa L.; Kong, Kyoungchul; Matchev, Konstantin T.

    2007-01-01

    If the cold dark matter consists of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), anticipated measurements of the WIMP properties at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the International Linear Collider (ILC) will provide an unprecedented experimental probe of cosmology at temperatures of order 1 GeV. It is worth emphasizing that the expected outcome of these tests may or may not be consistent with the picture of standard cosmology. For example, in kination-dominated quintessence models of dark energy, the dark matter relic abundance can be significantly enhanced compared to that obtained from freeze out in a radiation-dominated universe. Collider measurements then will simultaneously probe both dark matter and dark energy. In this article, we investigate the precision to which the LHC and ILC can determine the dark matter and dark energy parameters under those circumstances. We use an illustrative set of four benchmark points in minimal supergravity in analogy with the four LCC benchmark points. The precision achievable together at the LHC and ILC is sufficient to discover kination-dominated quintessence, under the assumption that the WIMPs are the only dark matter component. The LHC and ILC can thus play important roles as alternative probes of both dark matter and dark energy

  5. The Galactic Isotropic γ-ray Background and Implications for Dark Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Sheldon S.; Kwa, Anna; Kaplinghat, Manoj

    2018-06-01

    We present an analysis of the radial angular profile of the galacto-isotropic (GI) γ-ray flux-the statistically uniform flux in angular annuli centred on the Galactic centre. Two different approaches are used to measure the GI flux profile in 85 months of Fermi-LAT data: the BDS statistical method which identifies spatial correlations, and a new Poisson ordered-pixel method which identifies non-Poisson contributions. Both methods produce similar GI flux profiles. The GI flux profile is well-described by an existing model of bremsstrahlung, π0 production, inverse Compton scattering, and the isotropic background. Discrepancies with data in our full-sky model are not present in the GI component, and are therefore due to mis-modelling of the non-GI emission. Dark matter annihilation constraints based solely on the observed GI profile are close to the thermal WIMP cross section below 100 GeV, for fixed models of the dark matter density profile and astrophysical γ-ray foregrounds. Refined measurements of the GI profile are expected to improve these constraints by a factor of a few.

  6. Search for dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center with IceCube-79

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aartsen, M.G.; Hill, G.C.; Robertson, S.; Whelan, B.J. [University of Adelaide, School of Chemistry and Physics, Adelaide, SA (Australia); Abraham, K.; Bernhard, A.; Coenders, S.; Gross, A.; Holzapfel, K.; Huber, M.; Jurkovic, M.; Krings, K.; Resconi, E.; Veenkamp, J. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Garching (Germany); Ackermann, M.; Berghaus, P.; Bernardini, E.; Bretz, H.P.; Cruz Silva, A.H.; Gluesenkamp, T.; Gora, D.; Jacobi, E.; Kaminsky, B.; Karg, T.; Middell, E.; Mohrmann, L.; Nahnhauer, R.; Schoenwald, A.; Shanidze, R.; Spiering, C.; Stasik, A.; Stoessl, A.; Strotjohann, N.L.; Terliuk, A.; Usner, M.; Yanez, J.P. [DESY, Zeuthen (Germany); Adams, J.; Brown, A.M. [University of Canterbury, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch (New Zealand); Aguilar, J.A.; Heereman, D.; Meagher, K.; Meures, T.; O' Murchadha, A.; Pinat, E. [Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Science Faculty CP230, Brussels (Belgium); Ahlers, M.; Arguelles, C.; Beiser, E.; BenZvi, S.; Braun, J.; Chirkin, D.; Day, M.; Desiati, P.; Diaz-Velez, J.C.; Fadiran, O.; Fahey, S.; Feintzeig, J.; Ghorbani, K.; Gladstone, L.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Hoshina, K.; Jero, K.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J.L.; Kheirandish, A.; McNally, F.; Merino, G.; Middlemas, E.; Morse, R.; Richter, S.; Sabbatini, L.; Tobin, M.N.; Tosi, D.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Van Santen, J.; Wandkowsky, N.; Weaver, C.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whitehorn, N.; Wille, L. [Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Department of Physics, Madison, WI (United States); Ahrens, M.; Bohm, C.; Dumm, J.P.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Hulth, P.O.; Hultqvist, K.; Walck, C.; Wolf, M.; Zoll, M. [Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, Department of Physics, Stockholm (Sweden); Altmann, D.; Classen, L.; Kappes, A.; Tselengidou, M. [Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Erlangen (Germany); Anderson, T.; Arlen, T.C.; Dunkman, M.; Eagan, R.; Groh, J.C.; Huang, F.; Keivani, A.; Lanfranchi, J.L.; Quinnan, M.; Smith, M.W.E.; Stanisha, N.A.; Tesic, G. [Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, University Park, PA (United States); Archinger, M.; Baum, V.; Boeser, S.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Koepke, L.; Kroll, G.; Luenemann, J.; Sander, H.G.; Schatto, K.; Wiebe, K. [University of Mainz, Institute of Physics, Mainz (Germany); Auffenberg, J.; Bissok, M.; Blumenthal, J.; Glagla, M.; Gier, D.; Gretskov, P.; Haack, C.; Hansmann, B.; Hellwig, D.; Kemp, J.; Konietz, R.; Koob, A.; Leuermann, M.; Leuner, J.; Paul, L.; Puetz, J.; Raedel, L.; Reimann, R.; Rongen, M.; Schimp, M.; Schoenen, S.; Schukraft, A.; Stahlberg, M.; Vehring, M.; Wallraff, M.; Wichary, C.; Wiebusch, C.H. [RWTH Aachen University, III. Physikalisches Institut, Aachen (Germany); Bai, X. [South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Physics Department, Rapid City, SD (United States); Barwick, S.W.; Yodh, G. [University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Irvine, CA (United States); Bay, R.; Filimonov, K.; Price, P.B.; Woschnagg, K. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Beatty, J.J. [Ohio State University, Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Columbus, OH (United States); Ohio State University, Department of Astronomy, Columbus, OH (United States); Becker Tjus, J.; Bos, F.; Eichmann, B.; Fedynitch, A.; Kroll, M.; Saba, S.M.; Schoeneberg, S. [Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Fakultaet fuer Physik and Astronomie, Bochum (Germany); Becker, K.H.; Bindig, D.; Fischer-Wasels, T.; Helbing, K.; Hickford, S.; Hoffmann, R.; Klaes, J.; Kopper, S.; Naumann, U.; Obertacke, A.; Omairat, A.; Posselt, J.; Soldin, D. [University of Wuppertal, Department of Physics, Wuppertal (Germany); Berley, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Cheung, E.; Christy, B.; Felde, J.; Hellauer, R.; Hoffman, K.D.; Huelsnitz, W.; Maunu, R.; Olivas, A.; Redl, P.; Schmidt, T.; Sullivan, G.W.; Wissing, H. [University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD (United States); Besson, D.Z. [University of Kansas, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lawrence, KS (United States); Binder, G.; Gerhardt, L.; Ha, C.; Klein, S.R.; Miarecki, S. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Boersma, D.J.; Botner, O.; Euler, S.; Hallgren, A.; Collaboration: IceCube Collaboration; and others

    2015-10-15

    The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, new and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. No neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, left angle σ{sub A} right angle, for WIMP masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to ≅ 4 . 10{sup -24} cm{sup 3}s{sup -1}, and ≅ 2.6 . 10{sup -23} cm{sup 3}s{sup -1} for the νanti ν channel, respectively. (orig.)

  7. Results from a Search for Dark Matter in the Complete LUX Exposure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akerib, D. S.; Alsum, S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Beltrame, P.; Bernard, E. P.; Bernstein, A.; Biesiadzinski, T. P.; Boulton, E. M.; Bramante, R.; Brás, P.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Currie, A.; Cutter, J. E.; Davison, T. J. R.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J. E. Y.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B. N.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C. R.; Hanhardt, M.; Haselschwardt, S. J.; Hertel, S. A.; Hogan, D. P.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ignarra, C. M.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Ji, W.; Kamdin, K.; Kazkaz, K.; Khaitan, D.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lenardo, B. G.; Lesko, K. T.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Manalaysay, A.; Mannino, R. L.; Marzioni, M. F.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J. A.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H. N.; Neves, F.; O'Sullivan, K.; Oliver-Mallory, K. C.; Palladino, K. J.; Pease, E. K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Rhyne, C.; Shaw, S.; Shutt, T. A.; Silva, C.; Solmaz, M.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; Stephenson, S.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D. J.; Taylor, W. C.; Tennyson, B. P.; Terman, P. A.; Tiedt, D. R.; To, W. H.; Tripathi, M.; Tvrznikova, L.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Webb, R. C.; White, J. T.; Whitis, T. J.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Xu, J.; Yazdani, K.; Young, S. K.; Zhang, C.; LUX Collaboration

    2017-01-01

    We report constraints on spin-independent weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-nucleon scattering using a 3.35 ×1 04 kg day exposure of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment. A dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with 250 kg of active mass is operated at the Sanford Underground Research Facility under Lead, South Dakota (USA). With roughly fourfold improvement in sensitivity for high WIMP masses relative to our previous results, this search yields no evidence of WIMP nuclear recoils. At a WIMP mass of 50 GeV c-2 , WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross sections above 2.2 ×10-46 cm2 are excluded at the 90% confidence level. When combined with the previously reported LUX exposure, this exclusion strengthens to 1.1 ×10-46 cm2 at 50 GeV c-2 .

  8. The use of twin-screen-based WIMPS in spacecraft control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klim, R. D.

    1990-10-01

    The ergonomic problems of designing a sophisticated Windows Icons Mouse Pop-up (WIMP) based twin screen workstation are outlined. These same problems will be encountered by future spacecraft controllers. The design of a modern, advanced workstation for use on a distributed multicontrol center in a multisatellite control system is outlined. The system uses access control mechanisms to ensure that only authorized personnel can undertake certain operations on the workstation. Rules governing the use of windowing features, screen attributes, icons, keyboard and mouse in spacecraft control are discussed.

  9. Search for dark matter annihilation in the earth using the ANTARES neutrino telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Albert, A.; André, M.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anton, G.; Ardid, M.; Aubert, J.J.; Avgitas, T.; Baret, B.; Barrios-Marti, J.; Basa, S.; Bertin, V.; Biagi, S.; Bormuth, R.; Bourret, S.; Bouwhuis, M.C.; Bruijn, R.; Brunner, J.; Busto, J.; Capone, A.; Caramete, L.; Carr, J.; Celli, S.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Coelho, J.A.; Coleiro, A.; Coniglione, R.; Costantini, H.; Coyle, P.; Creusot, A.; Deschamps, A.; De Bonis, G.; Distefano, C.; Di Palma, I.; Donzaud, C.; Dornic, D.; Drouhin, D.; Eberl, T.; El Bojaddaini, I.; Elsasser, D.; Enzenhofer, A.; Felis, I.; Fusco, L.A.; Galata, S.; Gay, P.; Geisselsoder, S.; Geyer, K.; Giordano, V.; Gleixner, A.; Glotin, H.; Grégoire, T.; Gracia-Ruiz, R.; Graf, K.; Hallmann, S.; van Haren, H.; Heijboer, A.J.; Hello, Y.; Hernandez-Rey, J.J.; Hofestadt, J.; Hugon, C.; Hossl, J.; Illuminati, G.; James, C.W.; de Jong, M.; Jongen, M.; Kadler, M.; Kalekin, O.; Katz, U.; Kiessling, D.; Kouchner, A.; Kreter, M.; Kreykenbohm, I.; Kulikovskiy, V.; Lachaud, C.; Lahmann, R.; Lefevre, D.; Leonora, E.; Lotze, M.; Loucatos, S.; Marcelin, M.; Margiotta, A.; Marinelli, A.; Martinez-Mora, J.A.; Mathieu, A.; Mele, R.; Melis, K.; Michael, T.; Migliozzi, P.; Moussa, A.; Mueller, C.; Nezri, E.; Pavalas, G.E.; Pellegrino, C.; Perrina, C.; Piattelli, P.; Popa, V.; Pradier, T.; Quinn, L.; Racca, C.; Riccobene, G.; Roensch, K.; Sanchez-Losa, A.; Saldana, M.; Salvadori, I.; Samtleben, D.F.E.; Sanguineti, M.; Sapienza, P.; Schnabel, J.; Schussler, F.; Seitz, T.; Sieger, C.; Spurio, M.; Stolarczyk, Th.; Taiuti, M.; Tayalati, Y.; Trovato, A.; Tselengidou, M.; Turpin, D.; Tönnis, C.; Vallage, B.; Vallee, C.; Van Elewyck, V.; Vivolo, D.; Vizzoca, A.; Wagner, S.; Wilms, J.; Zornoza, J.D.; Zuniga, J.

    2017-01-01

    A search for a neutrino signal from WIMP pair annihilations in the centre of the Earth has been performed with the data collected with the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. The event selection criteria have been developed and tuned to maximise the sensitivity of the experiment to such a

  10. Molecular excitations: a new way to detect Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Va' vra, J.

    2014-09-01

    We believe that the Dark Matter (DM) search should be expanded into the domain of detectors sensitive to molecular excitations, and so that we should create detectors which are more sensitive to collisions with very light WIMPs. In this paper we investigate in detail diatomic molecules, such as fused silica material with large OH-molecule content, and water molecules. Presently, we do not have suitable low-cost IR detectors to observe single photons, however some OH-molecular excitations extend to visible and UV wavelengths and can be measured by bialkali photocathodes. There are many other chemical substances with diatomic molecules, or more complex oil molecules, which could be also investigated. This idea invites searches in experiments having large target volumes of such materials coupled to a large array of single-photon detectors with bialkali or infrared-sensitive photocathodes.

  11. Detectors calibration and research of luminescent materials for non baryonic dark matter detection; Calibration de detecteurs et recherche de materiaux luminescents pour la detection de la matiere noire non baryonique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Messous, M.Y.

    1995-03-01

    This work is dedicated to the characterization of luminescent materials in order to build bolometers for the simultaneous detection of heat an light in the search for WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) candidates for non baryonic dark matter. These double bolometers should enable the identification and measurement of recoil ions after collision between a WIMPs and material nucleus. In our search for highly luminescent materials, we have studied the emission spectra, the time response and the spectra response resulting from laser excitation or ionizing particles bombardment of some crystals such as CaF{sub 2}(Eu), CaF{sub 2}, CeF{sub 3}(Ce) and In{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 7}. These studies were conducted down to liquid Helium temperature (4 K). After showing the good performance of CaF{sub 2}(Eu) scintillator, we have measured the quenching effect resulting from {sup 19}F and Ca ions recoil in CaF{sub 2}(Eu). This was done at the 14 MeV Tandem accelerator of Bruyeres-Le-Chatel with a pulsed neutron beam, simulating the WIMPs. The data obtained allowed the exploitation of the results of the BPRS (Beijing - Rome - Paris - Saclay) experiments carried out at Gran-Sasso. This results showed a gain of up to an order of magnitude in the exclusion graph of axially coupled WIMPs compared to NaI. With the apparatus developed at IPN Lyon (Nuclear Physical Institute of Lyon), we have also measured the ionization induced by Ge ion recoils in Germanium detector, which is one of the most promising crystals for WIMPs detection in the energy range of 2.8 keV-37.8 keV. An ionization efficiency of 24% to 29% was obtained. (author). refs., figs., tabs.

  12. Limits on inelastic dark matter from ZEPLIN-III

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akimov, D.Yu. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Araujo, H.M. [Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Barnes, E.J. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Belov, V.A. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Bewick, A. [Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Burenkov, A.A. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation); Cashmore, R. [Brasenose College, University of Oxford (United Kingdom); Chepel, V. [LIP-Coimbra and Department of Physics of the University of Coimbra (Portugal); Currie, A., E-mail: alastair.currie08@imperial.ac.u [Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Davidge, D.; Dawson, J. [Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Durkin, T.; Edwards, B. [Particle Physics Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton (United Kingdom); Ghag, C.; Hollingsworth, A. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Horn, M.; Howard, A.S. [Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Hughes, A.J. [Particle Physics Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton (United Kingdom); Jones, W.G. [Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Kalmus, G.E. [Particle Physics Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton (United Kingdom)

    2010-08-30

    We present limits on the WIMP-nucleon cross section for inelastic dark matter from a reanalysis of the 2008 run of ZEPLIN-III. Cuts, notably on scintillation pulse shape and scintillation-to-ionisation ratio, give a net exposure of 63kgday in the range 20-80keV nuclear recoil energy, in which 6 events are observed. Upper limits on signal rate are derived from the maximum empty patch in the data. Under standard halo assumptions a small region of parameter space consistent, at 99% CL, with causing the 1.17tonyr DAMA modulation signal is allowed at 90% CL: it is in the mass range 45-60GeVc{sup -2} with a minimum CL of 87%, again derived from the maximum patch. This is the tightest constraint yet presented using xenon, a target nucleus whose similarity to iodine mitigiates systematic error from the assumed halo.

  13. Discrimination of Charged Particles in a Neutral Beam Line by Using a Solid Scintillation Detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Woo, Jong-Kwan; Ko, Jewou; Liu, Dong [Jeju National University, Jeju (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-01-15

    In the past several decades, many studies have been conducted to search for non-baryonic dark matter, such as weakly interactive massive particles (WIMPs). In the search for WIMPs, charged particles incident on the detector are background particles because WIMPs are neutral. Charged particles originate from various sources, such as cosmic rays and laboratory materials surrounding the main detector. Therefore, a veto that discriminates charged particles can improve the particle detection efficiency of the entire experiment for detecting WIMPs. Here, we investigate in the thickness range of 1 mm to 5 mm, the optimal thickness of a polystyrene scintillator as a charged particle veto detector. We found that 3-mm-thick polystyrene provides the best performance to veto charged particles and the charged-particle background in the search for the WIMP signal. Furthermore, we fabricated 3-mm-thick and 5-mm-thick polystyrene charged particle veto detectors that will be used in an underground laboratory in the search for WIMP dark matter. After exposing those detectors are the actual beam line, we compared the rate of charged particles measured using those detectors and the rate simulated through a Monte Carlo simulation.

  14. Exotic particles at the LHC. Production via the Higgs portal and WIMP dark matter searches

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hessler, Andre Georg

    2016-09-05

    This thesis addresses two different aspects of the search for Physics Beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, and motivated by the recent discovery of a new interaction mediated by the Higgs boson, we systematically analyze the impact of the Higgs interaction on the production of new particles at the LHC. Second, we investigate the collider signatures of long-lived particles decaying into leptons and invisible energy, and which are predicted to exist in a class of neutrino mass models with a weakly interacting dark matter particle.

  15. Development of low-background CsI(Tl) crystals for WIMP search

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, H.S.; Bhang, H.; Hahn, I.S.; Hwang, M.J.; Kim, H.J.; Kim, S.C.; Kim, S.K.; Kim, S.Y.; Kim, T.Y.; Kim, Y.D.; Kwak, J.W.; Kwon, Y.J.; Lee, J.; Lee, J.I.; Lee, M.J.; Li, J.; Myung, S.S.; Park, H.; Zhu, J.J.

    2007-01-01

    Search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is being carried out at the underground laboratory, Yangyang, Korea. Characteristics and internal background of CsI(Tl) crystal have been investigated. In our extensive R and D, we reduced internal background in the CsI(Tl) crystal. With the latest, we have achieved 5.50+/-0.10cpd (counts/keV/kg/day) at 10-15keV low-energy region. Further reduction of internal background is foreseen with the CsI powder lately produced

  16. On dark matter selected high-scale supersymmetry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zheng, Sibo [Department of Physics, Chongqing University,Chongqing 401331 (China)

    2015-03-11

    The prediction for the Higgs mass in the dark matter selected high-scale SUSY is explored. We show the bounds on SUSY-breaking scale in models of SM +w-tilde and SM +h-tilde/s-tilde due to the observed Higgs mass at the LHC. We propose that effective theory below scale m-tilde described by SM +w-tilde is possibly realized in gauge mediation with multiple spurion fields that exhibit significant mass hierarchy, and that by SM +h-tilde/s-tilde can be realized with direct singlet-messenger-messenger coupling for singlet Yukawa coupling λ∼(v/m-tilde){sup 1/2}g{sub SM}. Finally, the constraint on high-scale SUSY is investigated in the light of inflation physics if these two subjects are directly related.

  17. Prospects of indirect searches for dark matter at INO

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choubey, Sandhya; Ghosh, Anushree; Tiwari, Deepak

    2018-05-01

    The annihilation of Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMP) in the centre of the sun could give rise to neutrino fluxes. We study the prospects of searching for these neutrinos at the upcoming Iron CALorimeter (ICAL) detector to be housed at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). We perform ICAL simulations to obtain the detector efficiencies and resolutions in order to simulate muon events in ICAL due to neutrinos coming from annihilation of WIMP in the mass range mχ = (3‑100) GeV . The atmospheric neutrinos pose a major background for these indirect detection studies and can be reduced using the fact that the signal comes only from the direction of the sun. For a given WIMP mass, we find the opening angle θ90 such that 90 % of the signal events are contained within this angle and use this cone-cut criteria to reduce the atmospheric neutrino background. The reduced background is then weighted by the solar exposure function at INO to obtain the final background spectrum for a given WIMP mass. We perform a χ2 analysis and present expected exclusion regions in the σSD‑mχ and σSI‑mχ, where σSD and σSI are the WIMP-nucleon Spin-Dependent (SD) and Spin-Independent (SI) scattering cross-section, respectively. For a 10 years exposure and mχ=25 GeV, the expected 90 % C.L. exclusion limit is found to be σSD < 6.87× 10‑41 cm2 and σSI < 7.75× 10‑43 cm2 for the τ+ τ‑ annihilation channel and σSD < 1.14× 10‑39 cm2 and σSI < 1.30× 10‑41 cm2 for the b bar b channel, assuming 100 % branching ratio for each of the WIMP annihilation channel.

  18. Results from the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment at Soudan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Agnese, R.; Aramaki, T.; Arnquist, I. J.; Baker, W.; Balakishiyeva, D.; Banik, S.; Barker, D.; Basu Thakur, R.; Bauer, D. A.; Binder, T.; Bowles, M. A.; Brink, P. L.; Bunker, R.; Cabrera, B.; Caldwell, D. O.; Calkins, R.; Cartaro, C.; Cerdeño, D. G.; Chang, Y.; Chen, Y.; Cooley, J.; Cornell, B.; Cushman, P.; Daal, M.; Di Stefano, P. C. F.; Doughty, T.; Fascione, E.; Figueroa-Feliciano, E.; Fritts, M.; Gerbier, G.; Germond, R.; Ghaith, M.; Godfrey, G. L.; Golwala, S. R.; Hall, J.; Harris, H. R.; Hong, Z.; Hoppe, E. W.; Hsu, L.; Huber, M. E.; Iyer, V.; Jardin, D.; Jastram, A.; Jena, C.; Kelsey, M. H.; Kennedy, A.; Kubik, A.; Kurinsky, N. A.; Loer, B.; Lopez Asamar, E.; Lukens, P.; MacDonell, D.; Mahapatra, R.; Mandic, V.; Mast, N.; Miller, E. H.; Mirabolfathi, N.; Mohanty, B.; Morales Mendoza, J. D.; Nelson, J.; Orrell, J. L.; Oser, S. M.; Page, K.; Page, W. A.; Partridge, R.; Penalver Martinez, M.; Pepin, M.; Phipps, A.; Poudel, S.; Pyle, M.; Qiu, H.; Rau, W.; Redl, P.; Reisetter, A.; Reynolds, T.; Roberts, A.; Robinson, A. E.; Rogers, H. E.; Saab, T.; Sadoulet, B.; Sander, J.; Schneck, K.; Schnee, R. W.; Scorza, S.; Senapati, K.; Serfass, B.; Speller, D.; Stein, M.; Street, J.; Tanaka, H. A.; Toback, D.; Underwood, R.; Villano, A. N.; von Krosigk, B.; Welliver, B.; Wilson, J. S.; Wilson, M. J.; Wright, D. H.; Yellin, S.; Yen, J. J.; Young, B. A.; Zhang, X.; Zhao, X.

    2018-02-01

    We report the result of a blinded search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using the full SuperCDMS Soudan dataset. With an exposure of 1690 kg days, a single event was observed after unblinding, consistent with expected backgrounds. This analysis (combined with previous Ge results) sets an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 1.4x10^-44 (1.0x10^-44) cm^2 at 46 GeV/c^2 . These results set the strongest limits for WIMP-germanium-nucleus interactions for masses >12 GeV/c^2.

  19. Prospects for axion detection in natural SUSY with mixed axion-higgsino dark matter: back to invisible?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bae, Kyu Jung [Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34051 (Korea, Republic of); Baer, Howard; Serce, Hasan, E-mail: kyujungbae@ibs.re.kr, E-mail: baer@nhn.ou.edu, E-mail: serce@ou.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019 (United States)

    2017-06-01

    Under the expectation that nature is natural, we extend the Standard Model to include SUSY to stabilize the electroweak sector and PQ symmetry to stabilize the QCD sector. Then natural SUSY arises from a Kim-Nilles solution to the SUSY μ problem which allows for a little hierarchy where μ∼ f {sub a} {sup 2}/ M {sub P} {sub ∼} 100−300 GeV while the SUSY particle mass scale m {sub SUSY}∼ 1−10 TeV >> μ. Dark matter then consists of two particles: a higgsino-like WIMP and a SUSY DFSZ axion. The range of allowed axion mass values m {sub a} depends on the mixed axion-higgsino relic density. The range of m {sub a} is actually restricted in this case by limits on WIMPs from direct and indirect detection experiments. We plot the expected axion detection rate at microwave cavity experiments. The axion-photon-photon coupling is severely diminished by charged higgsino contributions to the anomalous coupling. In this case, the axion may retreat, at least temporarily, back into the regime of near invisibility. From our results, we urge new ideas for techniques which probe both deeper and more broadly into axion coupling versus axion mass parameter space.

  20. EURECA – setting the scene for scintillators

    CERN Document Server

    Kraus, H; Bauer, M.; Bavykina, I.; Benoit, A.; Bento, A.; Blumer, J.; Bornschein, L.; Broniatowski, A.; Burghart, G.; Camus, P.; Chantelauze, A.; Chapellier, M.; Chardin, G.; Ciemniak, C.; Coppi, C.; Coron, N.; Crauste, O.; Danevich, F.A.; Daw, E.; Defay, X.; De Jesus, M.; de Marcillac, P.; Deuter, G.; Domange, J.; Di Stefano, P.; Drexlin, G.; Dumoulin, L.; Eitel, K.; von Feilitzsch, F.; Filosofov, D.; Gandit, P.; Garcia, E.; Gascon, J.; Gerbier, G.; Gironnet, J.; Godfrin, H.; Grohmann, S.; Gros, M.; Hannewald, M.; Hauff, D.; Haug, F.; Henry, S.; Huff, P.; Imber, J.; Ingleby, S.; Isaila, C.; Jochum, J.; Juillard, A.; Kiefer, M.; Kimmerle, M.; Kluck, H.; Kobychev, V.V.; Kozlov, V.; Kudovbenko, V.M.; Kudryavtsev, V.A.; Lachenmaier, T.; Lanfranchi, J.-C.; Lang, R.F.; Loaiza, P.; Lubashevsky, A.; Malek, M.; Marnieros, S.; McGowan, R.; Mikhailik, V.; Monfardini, A.; Navick, X.-F.; Niinikoski, T.; Nikolaiko, A.S.; Oberauer, L.; Olivieri, E.; Ortigoza, Y.; Pantic, E.; Pari, P.; Paul, B.; Perinic, G.; Petricca, F.; Pfister, S.; Pobes, C.; Poda, D.V.; Podviyanuk, R.B.; Polischuk, O.G.; Potzel, W.; Probst, F.; Puimedon, J.; Robinson, M.; Roth, S.; Rottler, K.; Rozov, S.; Sailer, C.; Salinas, A.; Sanglard, V.; Sarsa, M.L.; Schaffner, K.; Scholl, S.; Scorza, S.; Seidel, W.; Semikh, S.; Smolnikov, A.; Stern, M.; Stodolsky, L.; Teshima, M.; Tomasello, V.; Torrento, A.; Torres, L.; Tretyak, V.I.; Usherov, I.; Verdier, M.A.; Villar, J.A.; Wolf, J.; Yakushev, E.

    2009-01-01

    EURECA (European Underground Rare Event Calorimeter Array) will be an astro-particle physics facility aiming to directly detect galactic dark matter. The Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane has been selected as host laboratory. The EU RECA collaboration concentrates effort on cryogenic detector research in Europe into a single facility by bringing together colleagues from CRESST, EDELWEISS, ROSEBUD and additional new membe r institutes. EURECA will use a target mass of up to one ton for exploring WIMP-n ucleon scalar scattering cross sections in the region of 10 −9 – 10 −10 picobarn. A major advantage of EURECA is the plann ed use of more than just one target material (multi target experim ent for WIMP identification).

  1. Investigation of the muon-induced background of the EDELWEISS-II experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chantelauze, A.

    2009-11-01

    The EDELWEISS experiment aims at detecting WIMPs (weakly interactive massive particles) which could possibly amount for all or part of the dark matter in the universe. It measures the energy released by nuclear recoils produced by the elastic collision of a WIMP in an ordinary matter target. Due to the very small interaction cross-section of WIMP with nucleons, which leads to an extremely low expected event rate ( R < 250 keV. (author)

  2. Less-simplified models of dark matter for direct detection and the LHC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choudhury, Arghya [Regional Centre for Accelerator-based Particle Physics, Harish-Chandra Research Institute,Allahabad - 211019 (India); Kowalska, Kamila; Roszkowski, Leszek; Sessolo, Enrico Maria; Williams, Andrew J. [National Centre for Nuclear Research,Hoża 69, 00-681 Warsaw (Poland)

    2016-04-29

    We construct models of dark matter with suppressed spin-independent scattering cross section utilizing the existing simplified model framework. Even simple combinations of simplified models can exhibit interference effects that cause the tree level contribution to the scattering cross section to vanish, thus demonstrating that direct detection limits on simplified models are not robust when embedded in a more complicated and realistic framework. In general for fermionic WIMP masses ≳10 GeV direct detection limits on the spin-independent scattering cross section are much stronger than those coming from the LHC. However these model combinations, which we call less-simplified models, represent situations where LHC searches become more competitive than direct detection experiments even for moderate dark matter mass. We show that a complementary use of several searches at the LHC can strongly constrain the direct detection blind spots by setting limits on the coupling constants and mediators’ mass. We derive the strongest limits for combinations of vector + scalar, vector + “squark”, and “squark” + scalar mediator, and present the corresponding projections for the LHC 14 TeV for a number of searches: mono-jet, jets + missing energy, and searches for heavy vector resonances.

  3. Less-simplified models of dark matter for direct detection and the LHC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choudhury, Arghya; Kowalska, Kamila; Roszkowski, Leszek; Sessolo, Enrico Maria; Williams, Andrew J.

    2016-01-01

    We construct models of dark matter with suppressed spin-independent scattering cross section utilizing the existing simplified model framework. Even simple combinations of simplified models can exhibit interference effects that cause the tree level contribution to the scattering cross section to vanish, thus demonstrating that direct detection limits on simplified models are not robust when embedded in a more complicated and realistic framework. In general for fermionic WIMP masses ≳10 GeV direct detection limits on the spin-independent scattering cross section are much stronger than those coming from the LHC. However these model combinations, which we call less-simplified models, represent situations where LHC searches become more competitive than direct detection experiments even for moderate dark matter mass. We show that a complementary use of several searches at the LHC can strongly constrain the direct detection blind spots by setting limits on the coupling constants and mediators’ mass. We derive the strongest limits for combinations of vector + scalar, vector + “squark”, and “squark” + scalar mediator, and present the corresponding projections for the LHC 14 TeV for a number of searches: mono-jet, jets + missing energy, and searches for heavy vector resonances.

  4. Less-simplified models of dark matter for direct detection and the LHC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choudhury, Arghya; Kowalska, Kamila; Roszkowski, Leszek; Sessolo, Enrico Maria; Williams, Andrew J.

    2016-04-01

    We construct models of dark matter with suppressed spin-independent scattering cross section utilizing the existing simplified model framework. Even simple combinations of simplified models can exhibit interference effects that cause the tree level contribution to the scattering cross section to vanish, thus demonstrating that direct detection limits on simplified models are not robust when embedded in a more complicated and realistic framework. In general for fermionic WIMP masses ≳ 10 GeV direct detection limits on the spin-independent scattering cross section are much stronger than those coming from the LHC. However these model combinations, which we call less-simplified models, represent situations where LHC searches become more competitive than direct detection experiments even for moderate dark matter mass. We show that a complementary use of several searches at the LHC can strongly constrain the direct detection blind spots by setting limits on the coupling constants and mediators' mass. We derive the strongest limits for combinations of vector + scalar, vector + "squark", and "squark" + scalar mediator, and present the corresponding projections for the LHC 14 TeV for a number of searches: mono-jet, jets + missing energy, and searches for heavy vector resonances.

  5. Photons from dark matter in a (non-universal) extra dimension model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Regis, Marco

    2008-01-01

    We study the multi-wavelength signal induced by pairs annihilations at the galactic center (GC) of a recently proposed dark matter (DM) candidate. The weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) candidate, named A - , is the first Kaluza-Klein mode of a five-dimensional Abelian gauge boson. Electroweak precision tests and the DM cosmological bound constrain its mass and pair annihilation rate in small ranges, leading to precise predictions of indirect signals from what concerns the particle physics side. The related multi-wavelength emission is expected to be faint, unless a significant enhancement of the DM density is present at the GC. We find that in this case, and depending on few additional assumptions, the next generation of gamma-ray and wide-field radio observations can test the model, possibly even with the detection of the induced monochromatic gamma-ray emission

  6. Cross-correlation of weak lensing and gamma rays: implications for the nature of dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tröster, Tilman; Camera, Stefano; Fornasa, Mattia; Regis, Marco; van Waerbeke, Ludovic; Harnois-Déraps, Joachim; Ando, Shin'ichiro; Bilicki, Maciej; Erben, Thomas; Fornengo, Nicolao; Heymans, Catherine; Hildebrandt, Hendrik; Hoekstra, Henk; Kuijken, Konrad; Viola, Massimo

    2017-05-01

    We measure the cross-correlation between Fermi gamma-ray photons and over 1000 deg2 of weak lensing data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS), the Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey (RCSLenS), and the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS). We present the first measurement of tomographic weak lensing cross-correlations and the first application of spectral binning to cross-correlations between gamma rays and weak lensing. The measurements are performed using an angular power spectrum estimator while the covariance is estimated using an analytical prescription. We verify the accuracy of our covariance estimate by comparing it to two internal covariance estimators. Based on the non-detection of a cross-correlation signal, we derive constraints on weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. We compute exclusion limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section , decay rate Γdec and particle mass mDM. We find that in the absence of a cross-correlation signal, tomography does not significantly improve the constraining power of the analysis. Assuming a strong contribution to the gamma-ray flux due to small-scale clustering of dark matter and accounting for known astrophysical sources of gamma rays, we exclude the thermal relic cross-section for particle masses of mDM ≲ 20 GeV.

  7. Fermi/LAT observations of dwarf galaxies highly constrain a dark matter interpretation of excess positrons seen in AMS-02, HEAT, and PAMELA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    López, Alejandro [Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, 450 Church St., Ann Arbor (United States); Savage, Christopher [Nordita (Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics), KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, Roslagstullsbacken 23, Stockholm (Sweden); Spolyar, Douglas; Adams, Douglas Q., E-mail: aolopez@umich.edu, E-mail: chris@savage.name, E-mail: dspolyar@gmail.com, E-mail: doug.q.adams@gmail.com [Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Stockholm University, Roslagstullsbacken 23, Roslagstullsbacken 21, Stockholm (Sweden)

    2016-03-01

    It is shown that a Weakly Interacting Massive dark matter Particle (WIMP) interpretation for the positron excess observed in a variety of experiments, HEAT, PAMELA, and AMS-02, is highly constrained by the Fermi/LAT observations of dwarf galaxies. In particular, this paper examines the annihilation channels that best fit the current AMS-02 data (Boudaud et al., 2014), specifically focusing on channels and parameter space not previously explored by the Fermi/LAT collaboration. The Fermi satellite has surveyed the γ-ray sky, and its observations of dwarf satellites are used to place strong bounds on the annihilation of WIMPs into a variety of channels. For the single channel case, we find that dark matter annihilation into (b b-bar ,e{sup +}e{sup -}, μ{sup +}μ{sup -}, τ{sup +}τ{sup -},4-e or 4-τ ) is ruled out as an explanation of the AMS positron excess (here b quarks are a proxy for all quarks, gauge and Higgs bosons). In addition, we find that the Fermi/LAT 2σ upper limits, assuming the best-fit AMS-02 branching ratios, exclude multichannel combinations into b b-bar and leptons. The tension between the results might relax if the branching ratios are allowed to deviate from their best-fit values, though a substantial change would be required. Of all the channels we considered, the only viable channel that survives the Fermi/LAT constraint and produces a good fit to the AMS-02 data is annihilation (via a mediator) to 4-μ, or mainly to 4-μ in the case of multichannel combinations.

  8. The semi-Hooperon: Gamma-ray and anti-proton excesses in the Galactic Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arcadi, Giorgio; Queiroz, Farinaldo S.; Siqueira, Clarissa

    2017-12-01

    A puzzling excess in gamma-rays at GeV energies has been observed in the center of our galaxy using Fermi-LAT data. Its origin is still unknown, but it is well fitted by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) annihilations into quarks with a cross section around 10-26 cm3s-1 with masses of 20-50 GeV, scenario which is promptly revisited. An excess favoring similar WIMP properties has also been seen in anti-protons with AMS-02 data potentially coming from the Galactic Center as well. In this work, we explore the possibility of fitting these excesses in terms of semi-annihilating dark matter, dubbed as semi-Hooperon, with the process WIMP WIMPWIMP X being responsible for the gamma-ray excess, where X = h , Z. An interesting feature of semi-annihilations is the change in the relic density prediction compared to the standard case, and the possibility to alleviate stringent limits stemming from direct detection searches. Moreover, we discuss which models might give rise to a successful semi-Hooperon setup in the context of Z3,Z4 and extra "dark" gauge symmetries.

  9. How to save the WIMP. Global analysis of a dark matter model with two s-channel mediators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duerr, Michael; Kahlhoefer, Felix; Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai; Schwetz, Thomas; Vogl, Stefan

    2016-06-01

    A reliable comparison of different dark matter (DM) searches requires models that satisfy certain consistency requirements like gauge invariance and perturbative unitarity. As a well-motivated example, we study two-mediator DM (2MDM). The model is based on a spontaneously broken U(1)"' gauge symmetry and contains a Majorana DM particle as well as two s-channel mediators, one vector (the Z"') and one scalar (the dark Higgs). We perform a global scan over the parameters of the model assuming that the DM relic density is obtained by thermal freeze-out in the early Universe and imposing a large set of constraints: direct and indirect DM searches, monojet, dijet and dilepton searches at colliders, Higgs observables, electroweak precision tests and perturbative unitarity. We conclude that thermal DM is only allowed either close to an s-channel resonance or if at least one mediator is lighter than the DM particle. In these cases a thermal DM abundance can be obtained although DM couplings to the Standard Model are tiny. Interestingly, we find that vector-mediated DM-nucleon scattering leads to relevant constraints despite the velocity-suppressed cross section, and that indirect detection can be important if DM annihilations into both mediators are kinematically allowed.

  10. Thermal evolution and small scale structure of Sommerfeld enhanced dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aarssen, Laura Gusta van den

    2013-04-01

    Although the existence of Dark Matter (DM) has been confirmed by many independent observations on various scales, its nature still remains a mystery. Leading candidates for the cold, non-baryonic DM are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), that are well motivated from particle physics and naturally explain the observed relic density by their thermal production mechanism. In this thesis we focus on a particular class of WIMP models in which the Sommerfeld effect has to be taken into account. This is a quantum mechanical phenomenon that can significantly enhance the annihilation cross section in the non-relativistic limit. To describe the non-perturbative effect, we use a non-relativistic effective field theory derived from the full quantum field theory. We include a detailed discussion of the calculation for the righthanded sneutrino, which is the superpartner of the neutrino and a viable DM candidate. The Sommerfeld enhancement can have a profound influence on the thermal evolution of the DM, which can no longer be described by the standard scenario. We introduce a framework to correctly take this effect into account and apply it to a simple leptophilic DM model. A new era of annihilations can decrease the DM density even after usual freeze-out, and in some cases where the Sommerfeld enhancement is especially large, even continue until after matter-radiation equality. The effect on the asymptotic WIMP temperature, which can be directly related to a small scale cutoff in the matter density fluctuations, causes the mass of the smallest gravitationally bound objects to be larger than expected from standard calculations. Furthermore we study the effect of velocity dependent DM self-scattering in relation to the small scale structure formation. Numerical simulations of ΛCDM have shown a remarkable agreement with the large scale structure of the Universe. However, the simulations are in tension with observed abundances, inner densities and velocity profiles of

  11. Thermal evolution and small scale structure of Sommerfeld enhanced dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aarssen, Laura Gusta van den

    2013-04-15

    Although the existence of Dark Matter (DM) has been confirmed by many independent observations on various scales, its nature still remains a mystery. Leading candidates for the cold, non-baryonic DM are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), that are well motivated from particle physics and naturally explain the observed relic density by their thermal production mechanism. In this thesis we focus on a particular class of WIMP models in which the Sommerfeld effect has to be taken into account. This is a quantum mechanical phenomenon that can significantly enhance the annihilation cross section in the non-relativistic limit. To describe the non-perturbative effect, we use a non-relativistic effective field theory derived from the full quantum field theory. We include a detailed discussion of the calculation for the righthanded sneutrino, which is the superpartner of the neutrino and a viable DM candidate. The Sommerfeld enhancement can have a profound influence on the thermal evolution of the DM, which can no longer be described by the standard scenario. We introduce a framework to correctly take this effect into account and apply it to a simple leptophilic DM model. A new era of annihilations can decrease the DM density even after usual freeze-out, and in some cases where the Sommerfeld enhancement is especially large, even continue until after matter-radiation equality. The effect on the asymptotic WIMP temperature, which can be directly related to a small scale cutoff in the matter density fluctuations, causes the mass of the smallest gravitationally bound objects to be larger than expected from standard calculations. Furthermore we study the effect of velocity dependent DM self-scattering in relation to the small scale structure formation. Numerical simulations of {Lambda}CDM have shown a remarkable agreement with the large scale structure of the Universe. However, the simulations are in tension with observed abundances, inner densities and velocity

  12. The effective field theory of dark matter direct detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fitzpatrick, A. Liam; Haxton, Wick; Katz, Emanuel; Lubbers, Nicholas; Xu, Yiming

    2013-02-01

    We extend and explore the general non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter (DM) direct detection. We describe the basic non-relativistic building blocks of operators and discuss their symmetry properties, writing down all Galilean-invariant operators up to quadratic order in momentum transfer arising from exchange of particles of spin 1 or less. Any DM particle theory can be translated into the coefficients of an effective operator and any effective operator can be simply related to most general description of the nuclear response. We find several operators which lead to novel nuclear responses. These responses differ significantly from the standard minimal WIMP cases in their relative coupling strengths to various elements, changing how the results from different experiments should be compared against each other. Response functions are evaluated for common DM targets — F, Na, Ge, I, and Xe — using standard shell model techniques. We point out that each of the nuclear responses is familiar from past studies of semi-leptonic electroweak interactions, and thus potentially testable in weak interaction studies. We provide tables of the full set of required matrix elements at finite momentum transfer for a range of common elements, making a careful and fully model-independent analysis possible. Finally, we discuss embedding non-relativistic effective theory operators into UV models of dark matter.

  13. A search for annual and daily modulations of dark matter with NaI scintillators at Canfranc

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarsa, M.L.; Morales, A.; Morales, J.; Garcia, E.; Ortiz de Solorzano, A.; Puimedon, J.; Saenz, C.; Salinas, A.; Villar, J.A.

    1996-01-01

    A search for cold dark matter has been carried out at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory with a set of three sodium iodide scintillators of 10.7 kg each, during two years of data taking. The results, corresponding to an exposure of 4613.6 kg day are presented in the form of exclusion plots σ(m) for spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-matter interactions, by conventionally comparing the observed rate with the expected signal. Distinctive features of the CDM signal, like annual and daily modulations have been looked for in, respectively, 1342.85 kg day and 2769.6 kg day of data. The non observance of such modulations have been used to draw stringer exclusion plots than those derived from the previous, conventional method. (orig.)

  14. Detection of dark-matter-radiation of stars during visible sun eclipses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volkamer, Klaus

    2003-01-01

    Recently a so-far unknown form of quantized, cold dark matter was detected on a laboratory scale which shows a complementary structure as compared to known forms of matter. From the experiments results that the observed quanta of the new type of matter as integer multiples of the Planck mass (mp = n · √((h·c)/((2 · π · G))) = n 0 21.77 μg, with n = 1, 2, 3 etc.) exhibit a spatially extended 'field-like' structure ranging over distances of centimetres or more, opposite to the 'point-like' structure of the known elementary particles of the standard model. Association of quanta of the new form of 'soft' (or subtle) matter to clusters was observed, as well as re-clustering after absorption. Thus, between such quanta a physical interaction must exist. In addition, the new form of matter shows at least two interactions with normal matter, a gravitational one due to its real mass content and a so-far unknown 'topological', i.e. form-specific, interaction at phase borders. Additional indications for a weak electromagnetic interaction exist. Furthermore, the experimental results reveal that some types of quanta of the new form of 'field-like' matter exhibit positive mass, as normal matter, but others exhibit a negative mass content, both in the order of magnitude of the Planck mass. Memory effects in normal matter were detected after absorption of quanta of the new form of soft matter. In general, the findings characterize the quanta of 'fieldlike' matter as WIMP candidates of a cosmic background radiation of cold dark matter (quanta with positive mass) as well as of a cosmic background radiation of dark energy (quanta with negative mass). During visible sun eclipses in 1989, 1996 and. 1999, as well as during full moon of 6 January 2001, a so-far unknown form of dark-matter-radiation ('dark radiation') was detected. The quanta of this 'dark radiation' travel with the speed of light, but reveal macroscopic real mass, with positive and with negative mass content. The

  15. Gravitino dark matter from increased thermal relic particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okada, Nobuchika; Seto, Osamu

    2008-01-01

    We investigate the so-called superWIMP scenario with the gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in the context of nonstandard cosmology, in particular, brane world cosmology. As a candidate of the next-to-LSP (NLSP), we examine the slepton and the sneutrino. Brane world cosmological effects dramatically enhance the relic density of the slepton or sneutrino NLSP, so that the NLSP with mass of order 100 GeV can provide the correct abundance of gravitino dark matter through its decay. We find that with an appropriate five-dimensional Planck mass, this scenario can be realized consistently with the constraints from big bang nucleosynthesis for both NLSP candidates of the slepton and the sneutrino. The big bang nucleosynthesis constraints for the slepton NLSP are more stringent than that for the sneutrino; as the result, the gravitino must be rather warm in the slepton NLSP case. The energy density of the gravitino produced by thermal scattering is highly suppressed and negligible due to the brane world cosmological effects

  16. Optimizing the design and analysis of cryogenic semiconductor dark matter detectors for maximum sensitivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pyle, Matt Christopher [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

    2012-01-01

    In this thesis, we illustrate how the complex E- field geometry produced by interdigitated electrodes at alternating voltage biases naturally encodes 3D fiducial volume information into the charge and phonon signals and thus is a natural geometry for our next generation dark matter detectors. Secondly, we will study in depth the physics of import to our devices including transition edge sensor dynamics, quasi- particle dynamics in our Al collection fins, and phonon physics in the crystal itself so that we can both understand the performance of our previous CDMS II device as well as optimize the design of our future devices. Of interest to the broader physics community is the derivation of the ideal athermal phonon detector resolution and it's T3 c scaling behavior which suggests that the athermal phonon detector technology developed by CDMS could also be used to discover coherent neutrino scattering and search for non-standard neutrino interaction and sterile neutrinos. These proposed resolution optimized devices can also be used in searches for exotic MeV-GeV dark matter as well as novel background free searches for 8GeV light WIMPs.

  17. Improved Limits on Scattering of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles from Reanalysis of 2013 LUX Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Beltrame, P.; Bernard, E. P.; Bernstein, A.; Biesiadzinski, T. P.; Boulton, E. M.; Bradley, A.; Bramante, R.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Currie, A.; Cutter, J. E.; Davison, T. J. R.; de Viveiros, L.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J. E. Y.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B. N.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C. R.; Hanhardt, M.; Haselschwardt, S. J.; Hertel, S. A.; Hogan, D. P.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ignarra, C. M.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Ji, W.; Kazkaz, K.; Khaitan, D.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lenardo, B. G.; Lesko, K. T.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Malling, D. C.; Manalaysay, A.; Mannino, R. L.; Marzioni, M. F.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J. A.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H. N.; Neves, F.; O'Sullivan, K.; Oliver-Mallory, K. C.; Ott, R. A.; Palladino, K. J.; Pangilinan, M.; Pease, E. K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Rhyne, C.; Shaw, S.; Shutt, T. A.; Silva, C.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; Stephenson, S.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D. J.; Taylor, W.; Tennyson, B. P.; Terman, P. A.; Tiedt, D. R.; To, W. H.; Tripathi, M.; Tvrznikova, L.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Webb, R. C.; White, J. T.; Whitis, T. J.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Yazdani, K.; Young, S. K.; Zhang, C.; LUX Collaboration

    2016-04-01

    We present constraints on weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP)-nucleus scattering from the 2013 data of the Large Underground Xenon dark matter experiment, including 1.4 ×104 kg day of search exposure. This new analysis incorporates several advances: single-photon calibration at the scintillation wavelength, improved event-reconstruction algorithms, a revised background model including events originating on the detector walls in an enlarged fiducial volume, and new calibrations from decays of an injected tritium β source and from kinematically constrained nuclear recoils down to 1.1 keV. Sensitivity, especially to low-mass WIMPs, is enhanced compared to our previous results which modeled the signal only above a 3 keV minimum energy. Under standard dark matter halo assumptions and in the mass range above 4 GeV c-2 , these new results give the most stringent direct limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section. The 90% C.L. upper limit has a minimum of 0.6 zb at 33 GeV c-2 WIMP mass.

  18. Simulations of the muon-induced neutron background of the EDELWEISS-II experiment for Dark Matter search

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horn, O.M.

    2007-01-01

    In modern astroparticle physics and cosmology, the nature of Dark Matter is one of the central problems. Particle Dark Matter in form of WIMPs is favoured among many proposed candidates. The EDELWEISS direct Dark Matter search uses Germanium bolometers to detect these particles by nuclear recoils. Here, the use of two signal channels on an event-by-event basis, namely the heat and ionisation signal, enables the detectors to discriminate between electron and nuclear recoils. This technique leaves neutrons in the underground laboratory as the main background for the experiment. Besides (α,n) reactions of natural radioactivity, neutrons are produced in electromagnetic and hadronic showers induced by cosmic ray muons in the surrounding rock and shielding material of the Germanium crystals. To reach high sensitivities, the EDELWEISS-II experiment, as well as other direct Dark Matter searches, has to efficiently suppress this neutron background. The present work is devoted to study the muon-induced neutron flux in the underground laboratory LSM and the interaction rate within the Germanium crystals by using the Monte Carlo simulation toolkit Geant4. To ensure reliable results, the implemented physics in the toolkit regarding neutron production is tested in a benchmark geometry and results are compared to experimental data and other simulation codes. Also, the specific energy and angular distribution of the muon flux in the underground laboratory as a consequence of the asymmetric mountain overburden is implemented. A good agreement of the simulated muon flux is shown in a comparison to preliminary experimental data obtained with the EDELWEISS-II muon veto system. Furthermore, within a detailed geometry of the experimental setup, the muon-induced background rate of nuclear recoils in the bolometers is simulated. Coincidences of recoil events in the Germanium with an energy deposit of the muoninduced shower in the plastic scintillators of the veto system are studied to

  19. Simulations of the muon-induced neutron background of the EDELWEISS-II experiment for Dark Matter search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horn, O M

    2007-12-21

    In modern astroparticle physics and cosmology, the nature of Dark Matter is one of the central problems. Particle Dark Matter in form of WIMPs is favoured among many proposed candidates. The EDELWEISS direct Dark Matter search uses Germanium bolometers to detect these particles by nuclear recoils. Here, the use of two signal channels on an event-by-event basis, namely the heat and ionisation signal, enables the detectors to discriminate between electron and nuclear recoils. This technique leaves neutrons in the underground laboratory as the main background for the experiment. Besides ({alpha},n) reactions of natural radioactivity, neutrons are produced in electromagnetic and hadronic showers induced by cosmic ray muons in the surrounding rock and shielding material of the Germanium crystals. To reach high sensitivities, the EDELWEISS-II experiment, as well as other direct Dark Matter searches, has to efficiently suppress this neutron background. The present work is devoted to study the muon-induced neutron flux in the underground laboratory LSM and the interaction rate within the Germanium crystals by using the Monte Carlo simulation toolkit Geant4. To ensure reliable results, the implemented physics in the toolkit regarding neutron production is tested in a benchmark geometry and results are compared to experimental data and other simulation codes. Also, the specific energy and angular distribution of the muon flux in the underground laboratory as a consequence of the asymmetric mountain overburden is implemented. A good agreement of the simulated muon flux is shown in a comparison to preliminary experimental data obtained with the EDELWEISS-II muon veto system. Furthermore, within a detailed geometry of the experimental setup, the muon-induced background rate of nuclear recoils in the bolometers is simulated. Coincidences of recoil events in the Germanium with an energy deposit of the muoninduced shower in the plastic scintillators of the veto system are studied

  20. Dark Matter Interference

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Del Nobile, Eugenio; Kouvaris, Christoforos; Sannino, Francesco

    2012-01-01

    We study different patterns of interference in WIMP-nuclei elastic scattering that can accommodate the DAMA and CoGeNT experiments via an isospin violating ratio $f_n/f_p=-0.71$. We study interference between the following pairs of mediators: Z and Z', Z' and Higgs, and two Higgs fields. We show ...

  1. Crossing statistic: Bayesian interpretation, model selection and resolving dark energy parametrization problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shafieloo, Arman

    2012-01-01

    By introducing Crossing functions and hyper-parameters I show that the Bayesian interpretation of the Crossing Statistics [1] can be used trivially for the purpose of model selection among cosmological models. In this approach to falsify a cosmological model there is no need to compare it with other models or assume any particular form of parametrization for the cosmological quantities like luminosity distance, Hubble parameter or equation of state of dark energy. Instead, hyper-parameters of Crossing functions perform as discriminators between correct and wrong models. Using this approach one can falsify any assumed cosmological model without putting priors on the underlying actual model of the universe and its parameters, hence the issue of dark energy parametrization is resolved. It will be also shown that the sensitivity of the method to the intrinsic dispersion of the data is small that is another important characteristic of the method in testing cosmological models dealing with data with high uncertainties

  2. Gaseous time projection chambers for rare event detection: results from the T-REX project. II. Dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Irastorza, I.G.; Aznar, F.; Castel, J., E-mail: igor.irastorza@cern.ch, E-mail: faznar@unizar.es, E-mail: jfcastel@unizar.es [Grupo de Física Nuclear y Astropartículas, Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/ P. Cerbuna 12, Zaragoza, 50009 Spain (Spain); and others

    2016-01-01

    As part of the T-REX project, a number of R and D and prototyping activities have been carried out during the last years to explore the applicability of gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) with Micromesh Gas Structures (Micromegas) in rare event searches like double beta decay, axion research and low-mass WIMP searches. While in the companion paper we focus on double beta decay, in this paper we focus on the results regarding the search for dark matter candidates, both axions and WIMPs. Small (few cm wide) ultra-low background Micromegas detectors are used to image the axion-induced x-ray signal expected in axion helioscopes like the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) experiment. Background levels as low as 0.8 × 10{sup −6} counts keV{sup −1} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} have already been achieved in CAST while values down to ∼10{sup −7} counts keV{sup −1} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} have been obtained in a test bench placed underground in the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC). Prospects to consolidate and further reduce these values down to ∼10{sup −8} counts keV{sup −1} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} will be described. Such detectors, placed at the focal point of x-ray telescopes in the future International Axion Observatory (IAXO), would allow for 10{sup 5} better signal-to-noise ratio than CAST, and search for solar axions with g{sub a}γ down to few 10{sup 12} GeV{sup −1}, well into unexplored axion parameter space. In addition, a scaled-up version of these TPCs, properly shielded and placed underground, can be competitive in the search for low-mass WIMPs. The TREX-DM prototype, with ∼ 0.300 kg of Ar at 10 bar, or alternatively ∼ 0.160 kg of Ne at 10 bar, and energy threshold well below 1 keV, has been built to test this concept. We will describe the main technical solutions developed, as well as the results from the commissioning phase on surface. The anticipated sensitivity of this technique might reach ∼10{sup −44} cm{sup 2} for

  3. A global fit of the γ-ray galactic center excess within the scalar singlet Higgs portal model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuoco, Alessandro; Eiteneuer, Benedikt; Heisig, Jan; Krämer, Michael

    2016-01-01

    We analyse the excess in the γ-ray emission from the center of our galaxy observed by Fermi-LAT in terms of dark matter annihilation within the scalar Higgs portal model. In particular, we include the astrophysical uncertainties from the dark matter distribution and allow for unspecified additional dark matter components. We demonstrate through a detailed numerical fit that the strength and shape of the γ-ray spectrum can indeed be described by the model in various regions of dark matter masses and couplings. Constraints from invisible Higgs decays, direct dark matter searches, indirect searches in dwarf galaxies and for γ-ray lines, and constraints from the dark matter relic density reduce the parameter space to dark matter masses near the Higgs resonance. We find two viable regions: one where the Higgs-dark matter coupling is of O(10"−"2), and an additional dark matter component beyond the scalar WIMP of our model is preferred, and one region where the Higgs-dark matter coupling may be significantly smaller, but where the scalar WIMP constitutes a significant fraction or even all of dark matter. Both viable regions are hard to probe in future direct detection and collider experiments.

  4. Antiprotons from dark matter annihilation in the Galaxy. Astrophysical uncertainties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evoli, Carmelo [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). National Astronomical Observatories; Cholis, Ilias; Ullio, Piero [SISSA, Sezione di Trieste (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Trieste (Italy); Grasso, Dario [INFN, Sezione di Pisa (Italy); Maccione, Luca [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

    2011-08-15

    The latest years have seen steady progresses in WIMP dark matter (DM) searches, with hints of possible signals suggested by both direct and indirect detection experiments. Antiprotons can play a key role validating those interpretations since they are copiously produced by WIMP annihilations in the Galactic halo, and the secondary antiproton background produced by Cosmic Ray (CR) interactions is predicted with fair accuracy and matches the observed spectrum very well. Using the publicly available numerical DRAGON code, we reconsider antiprotons as a tool to constrain DM models discussing its power and limitations. We provide updated constraints on a wide class of annihilating DM models by comparing our predictions against the most up-to-date anti p measurements, taking also into account the latest spectral information on the p, He and other CR nuclei fluxes. Doing that, we probe carefully the uncertainties associated to both secondary and DM originated antiprotons, by using a variety of distinctively different assumptions for the propagation of CRs and for the DM distribution in the Galaxy. We find that the impact of the astrophysical uncertainties on constraining the DM properties can be much stronger, up to a factor of {proportional_to}50, than the one due to uncertainties on the DM distribution ({proportional_to}2-6). Remarkably, even reducing the uncertainties on the propagation parameters derived by local observables, non-local effects can still change DM model constraints even by 50%. Nevertheless, current anti p data place tight constraints on DM models, excluding some of those suggested in connection with indirect and direct searches. Finally we discuss the power of upcoming CR spectral data from the AMS-02 observatory to drastically reduce the uncertainties discussed in this paper and estimate the expected sensitivity of this instrument to some sets of DM models. (orig.)

  5. First Results from the LUX Dark Matter Experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Bedikian, S.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Bolozdynya, A.; Bradley, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Clark, K.; Coffey, T.; Currie, A.; Curioni, A.; Dazeley, S.; de Viveiros, L.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J.; Dragowsky, E. M.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Flores, C.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C.; Hanhardt, M.; Hertel, S. A.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Kastens, L.; Kazkaz, K.; Knoche, R.; Kyre, S.; Lander, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Leonard, D. S.; Lesko, K. T.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Lyashenko, A.; Malling, D. C.; Mannino, R.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J.; Morii, M.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H.; Neves, F.; Nikkel, J. A.; Ott, R. A.; Pangilinan, M.; Parker, P. D.; Pease, E. K.; Pech, K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Shutt, T.; Silva, C.; Skulski, W.; Sofka, C. J.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; Stiegler, T.; O'Sullivan, K.; Sumner, T. J.; Svoboda, R.; Sweany, M.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D.; Tennyson, B.; Tiedt, D. R.; Tripathi, M.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Walsh, N.; Webb, R.; White, J. T.; White, D.; Witherell, M. S.; Wlasenko, M.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woods, M.; Zhang, C.; LUX Collaboration

    2014-03-01

    The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment is a dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota). The LUX cryostat was filled for the first time in the underground laboratory in February 2013. We report results of the first WIMP search data set, taken during the period from April to August 2013, presenting the analysis of 85.3 live days of data with a fiducial volume of 118 kg. A profile-likelihood analysis technique shows our data to be consistent with the background-only hypothesis, allowing 90% confidence limits to be set on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering with a minimum upper limit on the cross section of 7.6×10-46 cm2 at a WIMP mass of 33 GeV/c2. We find that the LUX data are in disagreement with low-mass WIMP signal interpretations of the results from several recent direct detection experiments.

  6. First results from the LUX dark matter experiment at the Sanford underground research facility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akerib, D S; Araújo, H M; Bai, X; Bailey, A J; Balajthy, J; Bedikian, S; Bernard, E; Bernstein, A; Bolozdynya, A; Bradley, A; Byram, D; Cahn, S B; Carmona-Benitez, M C; Chan, C; Chapman, J J; Chiller, A A; Chiller, C; Clark, K; Coffey, T; Currie, A; Curioni, A; Dazeley, S; de Viveiros, L; Dobi, A; Dobson, J; Dragowsky, E M; Druszkiewicz, E; Edwards, B; Faham, C H; Fiorucci, S; Flores, C; Gaitskell, R J; Gehman, V M; Ghag, C; Gibson, K R; Gilchriese, M G D; Hall, C; Hanhardt, M; Hertel, S A; Horn, M; Huang, D Q; Ihm, M; Jacobsen, R G; Kastens, L; Kazkaz, K; Knoche, R; Kyre, S; Lander, R; Larsen, N A; Lee, C; Leonard, D S; Lesko, K T; Lindote, A; Lopes, M I; Lyashenko, A; Malling, D C; Mannino, R; McKinsey, D N; Mei, D-M; Mock, J; Moongweluwan, M; Morad, J; Morii, M; Murphy, A St J; Nehrkorn, C; Nelson, H; Neves, F; Nikkel, J A; Ott, R A; Pangilinan, M; Parker, P D; Pease, E K; Pech, K; Phelps, P; Reichhart, L; Shutt, T; Silva, C; Skulski, W; Sofka, C J; Solovov, V N; Sorensen, P; Stiegler, T; O'Sullivan, K; Sumner, T J; Svoboda, R; Sweany, M; Szydagis, M; Taylor, D; Tennyson, B; Tiedt, D R; Tripathi, M; Uvarov, S; Verbus, J R; Walsh, N; Webb, R; White, J T; White, D; Witherell, M S; Wlasenko, M; Wolfs, F L H; Woods, M; Zhang, C

    2014-03-07

    The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment is a dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota). The LUX cryostat was filled for the first time in the underground laboratory in February 2013. We report results of the first WIMP search data set, taken during the period from April to August 2013, presenting the analysis of 85.3 live days of data with a fiducial volume of 118 kg. A profile-likelihood analysis technique shows our data to be consistent with the background-only hypothesis, allowing 90% confidence limits to be set on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering with a minimum upper limit on the cross section of 7.6 × 10(-46) cm(2) at a WIMP mass of 33 GeV/c(2). We find that the LUX data are in disagreement with low-mass WIMP signal interpretations of the results from several recent direct detection experiments.

  7. submitter Search for Dark Matter in the Upgraded High Luminosity LHC at CERN: Sensitivity of ATLAS phase II upgrade to dark matter production

    CERN Document Server

    Hallsjö, Sven-Patrik; Johansson, Magnus

    The LHC at CERN is now undergoing a set of upgrades to increase the center of mass energy for the colliding particles to be able to explore new physical processes. The focus of this thesis lies on the so called phase II upgrade which will preliminarily be completed in 2023. After the upgrade the LHC will be able to accelerate proton beams to such a velocity thateach proton has a center of mass energy of 14 TeV. One disadvantage of the upgrade is that it will be harder for the atlas detector to isolate unique particle collisions since more and more collisions will occur simultaneously, so called pile-up. For 14 TeV there does not exist a full simulation of the atlas detector. This thesis instead uses data from Monte Carlo simulations for the particle collisions and then uses so called smearing functions to emulate the detector responses. This thesis focuses on how a mono-jet analysis looking for different wimp models of dark matter will be affected by this increase in pile-up rate. The signal models which are ...

  8. Prospects for dark matter detection with IceCube in the context of the CMSSM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trotta, Roberto; Austri, Roberto Ruiz de; Heros, Carlos Pérez de los

    2009-01-01

    We study in detail the ability of the nominal configuration of the IceCube neutrino telescope (with 80 strings) to probe the parameter space of the Constrained MSSM (CMSSM) favoured by current collider and cosmological data. Adopting conservative assumptions about the galactic halo model and the expected experiment performance, we find that IceCube has a probability between 2% and 12% of achieving a 5σ detection of dark matter annihilation in the Sun, depending on the choice of priors for the scalar and gaugino masses and on the astrophysical assumptions. We identify the most important annihilation channels in the CMSSM parameter space favoured by current constraints, and we demonstrate that assuming that the signal is dominated by a single annihilation channel can lead to large systematic errors in the inferred WIMP annihilation cross section. We demonstrate that ∼ 66% of the CMSSM parameter space violates the equilibrium condition between capture and annihilation in the center of the Sun. By cross-correlating our predictions with direct detection methods, we conclude that if IceCube does detect a neutrino flux from the Sun at high significance while direct detection experiments do not find a signal above a spin-independent cross section σ p SI ∼> 7 × 10 −9 pb, the CMSSM will be strongly disfavoured, given standard astrophysical assumptions for the WIMP distribution. This result is robust with respect to a change of priors. We argue that the proposed low-energy DeepCore extension of IceCube will be an ideal instrument to focus on relevant CMSSM areas of parameter space

  9. Results and status of the Edelweiss Wimp search experiment; Experience Edelweiss de recherche directe de Wimps: resultats et perspectives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Benoit, A.; Berge, L.; Blumer, J.; Broniatowski, A.; Censier, B.; Chabert, L.; Chambon, B.; Chapellier, M.; Chardin, G.; Charvin, P.; Jesus, M. de; Drain, D.; Di Stefano, P.; Dumoulin, L.; Eitel, K.; Fesquet, M.; Firucci, S.; Gascon, J.; Gerbier, G.; Gerlic, E.; Goldbach, C.; Goyot, M.; Gros, M.; Habermahl, F.; Horn, M.; Hadjout, J.P.; Herve, S.; Juillard, A.; Kikuchi, C.; Lesquen, A. de; Luca, M.; Mallet, J.; Marnieros, S.; Martineau, O.; Mosca, L.; Navick, X.F.; Nollez, G.; Pari, P.; Riccio, C.; Sanglard, V.; Stern, M.; Vagneron, L.; Villard, V

    2005-07-01

    In the Edelweiss experiment, nuclear recoils induced by elastic collisions with WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particle) from the galactic halo are identified in low-temperature Ge detectors where the ratio of the heat and ionization signals provide an event-by-event discrimination of nuclear recoils from the dominant background coming from {gamma}-rays interactions. The Edelweiss experiment is located in the Modane underground facility in order to cut the muon flux drastically. We present here the results obtained during the first part of the experiment named Edelweiss-I that ended in the beginning of 2004. Since october 2002, 3 optimized 320 grams detectors have been simultaneously operated at a regulated temperature of 0.017 K and about 50 kg*day were added to the previous published data. These data are still under analysis but preliminary results concerning the upper limit at 90% CL (confidence level) confirm the limit already published in 2002. The first run of Edelweiss-II is due to begin during summer 2005, we are expecting to gain 2 orders of magnitude in terms of detector sensitivity and reach 0.002 events/day*kg. (A.C.)

  10. Galactic synchrotron emission from WIMPs at radio frequencies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fornengo, Nicolao; Regis, Marco; Lineros, Roberto A.; Taoso, Marco

    2012-01-01

    Dark matter annihilations in the Galactic halo inject relativistic electrons and positrons which in turn generate a synchrotron radiation when interacting with the galactic magnetic field. We calculate the synchrotron flux for various dark matter annihilation channels, masses, and astrophysical assumptions in the low-frequency range and compare our results with radio surveys from 22 MHz to 1420 MHz. We find that current observations are able to constrain particle dark matter with ''thermal'' annihilation cross-sections, i.e. (σv) = 3 × 10 −26 cm 3 s −1 , and masses M DM ∼<10 GeV. We discuss the dependence of these bounds on the astrophysical assumptions, namely galactic dark matter distribution, cosmic rays propagation parameters, and structure of the galactic magnetic field. Prospects for detection in future radio surveys are outlined

  11. Dark group: dark energy and dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Macorra, A. de la

    2004-01-01

    We study the possibility that a dark group, a gauge group with particles interacting with the standard model particles only via gravity, is responsible for containing the dark energy and dark matter required by present day observations. We show that it is indeed possible and we determine the constrains for the dark group. The non-perturbative effects generated by a strong gauge coupling constant can de determined and a inverse power law scalar potential IPL for the dark meson fields is generated parameterizing the dark energy. On the other hand it is the massive particles, e.g., dark baryons, of the dark gauge group that give the corresponding dark matter. The mass of the dark particles is of the order of the condensation scale Λ c and the temperature is smaller then the photon's temperature. The dark matter is of the warm matter type. The only parameters of the model are the number of particles of the dark group. The allowed values of the different parameters are severely restricted. The dark group energy density at Λ c must be Ω DGc ≤0.17 and the evolution and acceptable values of dark matter and dark energy leads to a constrain of Λ c and the IPL parameter n giving Λ c =O(1-10 3 ) eV and 0.28≤n≤1.04

  12. A Search for Light Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles with SuperCDMS and Applications to Neutrino Physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anderson, Adam J. [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

    2015-01-01

    Cosmological and astrophysical evidence indicates that 85% of the matter content of the universe is in the form of non-baryonic dark matter. A large number of experiments are currently undertaking searches for weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs), the leading class of particle candidates for dark matter. This thesis describes the results of such a search with the SuperCDMS experiment, which uses Ge detectors cooled to 50 mK to detect ionization and phonons produced by particle interactions. We perform a blind analysis of 577 kg d of exposure on 7 detectors targeting WIMPs with masses < 30GeV/$c^{2}$, where anomalous results have been reported by previous experiments. No significant excess is observed and we set an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 1.2 x 10$^{-42}$ cm2 at 8 GeV/$c^{2}$ We also set constraints on dark matter interactions independent of the dark matter halo physics, as well as on annual modulation of a dark matter signal. Cryogenic detectors similar to SuperCDMS also have potential applications in neutrino physics. We study several configurations in which dark matter detectors could be used with an intense neutrino source to detect an unmeasured Standard Model process called coherent neutrino scattering. This process may be useful, for example, as a calibration for next-generation dark matter detectors, and for constraining eV-scale sterile neutrinos. In addition, small cryogenic X-ray detectors on sounding rockets with large fields-of-view have the unique ability to constrain sterile neutrino dark matter. We set limits on sterile neutrino dark matter using an observation by the XQC instrument, and discuss prospects for a future observation of the galactic center using the Micro-X instrument.

  13. The Science of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) and SNOLAB

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2017-01-01

    A description of the science associated with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and its relation to other neutrino measurements will be given, along with a discussion of the new set of experiments that are at various stages of development or operation at SNOLAB. These experiments will perform measurements of neutrino properties and seek direct detection of Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS) as Dark Matter candidates. The experiments include SNO+, in which the central element of the SNO detector will be liquid scintillator with Te dissolved for neutrino-less double beta decay; DEAP, using about 3300 kg of liquid argon for single phase direct Dark Matter detection; SuperCDMS, a solid state bolometer system to start construction at SNOLAB in the near future; PICO, a direct Dark Matter experiment using bubble formation for detection and NEWS, a direct Dark Matter detector using high pressure gasses for low-mass WIMP detection.

  14. Galactic synchrotron emission from WIMPs at radio frequencies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fornengo, Nicolao; Regis, Marco [Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica, Università di Torino, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, via P. Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino (Italy); Lineros, Roberto A.; Taoso, Marco, E-mail: fornengo@to.infn.it, E-mail: rlineros@ific.uv.es, E-mail: regis@to.infn.it, E-mail: taoso@ific.uv.es [IFIC, CSIC-Universidad de Valencia, Ed. Institutos, Apdo. Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain)

    2012-01-01

    Dark matter annihilations in the Galactic halo inject relativistic electrons and positrons which in turn generate a synchrotron radiation when interacting with the galactic magnetic field. We calculate the synchrotron flux for various dark matter annihilation channels, masses, and astrophysical assumptions in the low-frequency range and compare our results with radio surveys from 22 MHz to 1420 MHz. We find that current observations are able to constrain particle dark matter with ''thermal'' annihilation cross-sections, i.e. (σv) = 3 × 10{sup −26} cm{sup 3} s{sup −1}, and masses M{sub DM}∼<10 GeV. We discuss the dependence of these bounds on the astrophysical assumptions, namely galactic dark matter distribution, cosmic rays propagation parameters, and structure of the galactic magnetic field. Prospects for detection in future radio surveys are outlined.

  15. Search for an Annual Modulation in a p-Type Point Contact Germanium Dark Matter Detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aalseth, Craig E.; Barbeau, Phil; Colaresi, J.; Collar, J. I.; Diaz Leon, J.; Fast, James E.; Fields, N.; Hossbach, Todd W.; Keillor, Martin E.; Kephart, Jeremy D.; Knecht, A.; Marino, Michael G.; Miley, Harry S.; Miller, M. L.; Orrell, John L.; Radford, D. C.; Wilkerson, J.; Yocum, K. M.

    2011-09-01

    Fifteen months of cumulative CoGeNT data are examined for indications of an annual modulation, a predicted signature of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) interactions. Presently available data support the presence of a modulated component of unknown origin, with parameters prima facie compatible with a galactic halo composed of light-mass WIMPs.

  16. Multiwavelength analysis of dark matter annihilation and RX-DMFIT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDaniel, A.; Jeltema, T.; Profumo, S.; Storm, E.

    2017-01-01

    Dark matter (DM) particles are predicted by several well motivated models to yield Standard Model particles through self-annihilation that can potentially be detected by astrophysical observations. In particular, the production of charged particles from DM annihilation in astrophysical systems that contain magnetic fields yields radio emission through synchrotron radiation and X-ray emission through inverse Compton scattering of ambient photons. We introduce RX-DMFIT, a tool used for calculating the expected secondary emission from DM annihilation. RX-DMFIT includes a wide range of customizable astrophysical and particle parameters and incorporates important astrophysics including the diffusion of charged particles, relevant radiative energy losses, and magnetic field modelling. We demonstrate the use and versatility of RX-DMFIT by analyzing the potential radio and X-ray signals for a variety of DM particle models and astrophysical environments including galaxy clusters, dwarf spheroidal galaxies and normal galaxies. We then apply RX-DMFIT to a concrete example using Segue I radio data to place constraints for a range of assumed DM annihilation channels. For WIMP models with M χ ≤ 100 GeV and assuming weak diffusion, we find that the leptonic μ + μ − and τ + τ − final states provide the strongest constraints, placing limits on the DM particle cross-section well below the thermal relic cross-section, while even for the b b-bar channel we find limits close to the thermal relic cross-section. Our analysis shows that radio emission provides a highly competitive avenue for dark matter searches.

  17. Dark matter limits froma 15 kg windowless bubble chamber

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szydagis, Matthew Mark [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

    2011-03-01

    The COUPP collaboration has successfully used bubble chambers, a technology previously applied only to high-energy physics experiments, as direct dark matter detectors. It has produced the world's most stringent spin-dependent WIMP limits, and increasingly competitive spin-independent limits. These limits were achieved by capitalizing on an intrinsic rejection of the gamma background that all other direct detection experiments must address through high-density shielding and empirically-determined data cuts. The history of COUPP, including its earliest prototypes and latest results, is briefly discussed in this thesis. The feasibility of a new, windowless bubble chamber concept simpler and more inexpensive in design is discussed here as well. The dark matter limits achieved with a 15 kg windowless chamber, larger than any previous COUPP chamber (2 kg, 4 kg), are presented. Evidence of the greater radiopurity of synthetic quartz compared to natural is presented using the data from this 15 kg device, the first chamber to be made from synthetic quartz. The effective reconstruction of the three-dimensional positions of bubbles in a highly distorted optical field, with ninety-degree bottom lighting similar to cloud chamber lighting, is demonstrated. Another innovation described in this thesis is the use of the sound produced by bubbles recorded by an array of piezoelectric sensors as the primary means of bubble detection. In other COUPP chambers, cameras have been used as the primary trigger. Previous work on bubble acoustic signature differentiation using piezos is built upon in order to further demonstrate the ability to discriminate between alpha- and neutron-induced events.

  18. Multiwavelength analysis of dark matter annihilation and RX-DMFIT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McDaniel, A.; Jeltema, T.; Profumo, S. [Department of Physics, University of California, 1156 High St. Santa Cruz, CA, 95064 (United States); Storm, E., E-mail: alexmcdaniel@ucsc.edu, E-mail: tesla@ucsc.edu, E-mail: profumo@ucsc.edu, E-mail: e.m.storm@uva.nl [GRAPPA, Institute of Physics, Universiteit van Amsterdam Science Park 904, 1098XH Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2017-09-01

    Dark matter (DM) particles are predicted by several well motivated models to yield Standard Model particles through self-annihilation that can potentially be detected by astrophysical observations. In particular, the production of charged particles from DM annihilation in astrophysical systems that contain magnetic fields yields radio emission through synchrotron radiation and X-ray emission through inverse Compton scattering of ambient photons. We introduce RX-DMFIT, a tool used for calculating the expected secondary emission from DM annihilation. RX-DMFIT includes a wide range of customizable astrophysical and particle parameters and incorporates important astrophysics including the diffusion of charged particles, relevant radiative energy losses, and magnetic field modelling. We demonstrate the use and versatility of RX-DMFIT by analyzing the potential radio and X-ray signals for a variety of DM particle models and astrophysical environments including galaxy clusters, dwarf spheroidal galaxies and normal galaxies. We then apply RX-DMFIT to a concrete example using Segue I radio data to place constraints for a range of assumed DM annihilation channels. For WIMP models with M {sub χ} ≤ 100 GeV and assuming weak diffusion, we find that the leptonic μ{sup +}μ{sup −} and τ{sup +}τ{sup −} final states provide the strongest constraints, placing limits on the DM particle cross-section well below the thermal relic cross-section, while even for the b b-bar channel we find limits close to the thermal relic cross-section. Our analysis shows that radio emission provides a highly competitive avenue for dark matter searches.

  19. Minerals as Time-Integrating Luminescence Detectors for setting bounds on dark matter particle characteristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Polymeris, G.S.; Kitis, G.; Liolios, A.K.; Tsirliganis, N.C.; Zioutas, K.

    2006-01-01

    Terrestrial material, since its formation, is supposed to receive additional radiation dose from its exposure to fluxes of dark matter particles. The present work investigates the possibility for bound estimation of interaction parameters of dark matter particles with ordinary matter, by measuring the accumulated doses of certain geological materials. It is proposed that Thermoluminescence (TL) and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) could enable the differentiation between the individual dose components, attributing a possible excessive dose, beyond the anticipated from cosmic rays and environmental radioactivity, to interactions with dark matter particles. Dosimetric properties of natural calcium fluoride, such as low detectable dose limit and low energy threshold (well below 1keV), indicate it as a promising Thermoluminescent Dosimeter (TLD) for the proposed method. The limitations imposed by the 'background' of cosmic rays and environmental radioactivity are discussed, and initial limits for the interaction strengths with ordinary matter, and/or the mass of WIMPs and axions are derived. The use of sedimentary quartz, sited in a free-from background-radiation environment, would yield a value of 4x10 -8 GeV -1 as an upper limit for the axion-to-photon interaction constant g aγγ and a value of 3x10 -8 GeV as a lower limit for the neutralino mass. The best limits, g aγγ =1.1x10 -10 GeV -1 for solar axions and m=3000GeV for neutralinos, could be derived for natural calcium fluoride as a dosimeter

  20. The effects of the small-scale behaviour of dark matter power spectrum on CMB spectral distortion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarkar, Abir; Sethi, Shiv. K.; Das, Subinoy

    2017-07-01

    After numerous astronomical and experimental searches, the precise particle nature of dark matter is still unknown. The standard Weakly Interacting Massive Particle(WIMP) dark matter, despite successfully explaining the large-scale features of the universe, has long-standing small-scale issues. The spectral distortion in the Cosmic Microwave Background(CMB) caused by Silk damping in the pre-recombination era allows one to access information on a range of small scales 0.3 Mpc Light Axion (ULA) dark matter and Charged Decaying Dark Matter (CHDM); the matter power in all these models deviate significantly from the ΛCDM model at small scales. We compute the spectral distortion of CMB for these alternative models and compare our results with the ΛCDM model. We show that the main impact of alternative models is to alter the sub-horizon evolution of the Newtonian potential which affects the late-time behaviour of spectral distortion of CMB. The y-parameter diminishes by a few percent as compared to the ΛCDM model for a range of parameters of these models: LFDM for formation redshift zf = 105 (7%); WDM for mass mwdm = 1 keV (2%); CHDM for decay redshift zdecay = 105 (5%); ULA for mass ma = 10-24 eV (3%). This effect from the pre-recombination era can be masked by orders of magnitude higher y-distortions generated by late-time sources, e.g. the Epoch of Reionization and tSZ from the cluster of galaxies. We also briefly discuss the detectability of this deviation in light of the upcoming CMB experiment PIXIE, which might have the sensitivity to detect this signal from the pre-recombination phase.

  1. The dark universe dark matter and dark energy

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2008-01-01

    According to the standard cosmological model, 95% of the present mass density of the universe is dark: roughly 70% of the total in the form of dark energy and 25% in the form of dark matter. In a series of four lectures, I will begin by presenting a brief review of cosmology, and then I will review the observational evidence for dark matter and dark energy. I will discuss some of the proposals for dark matter and dark energy, and connect them to high-energy physics. I will also present an overview of an observational program to quantify the properties of dark energy.

  2. Observation and applications of single-electron charge signals in the XENON100 experiment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aprile, E.; et al., [Unknown; Alfonsi, M.; Colijn, A.P.; Decowski, M.P.

    2014-01-01

    The XENON100 dark matter experiment uses liquid xenon in a time projection chamber (TPC) to measure xenon nuclear recoils resulting from the scattering of dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). In this paper, we report the observation of single-electron charge signals which are

  3. Dark Matter Results from 54-Ton-Day Exposure of PandaX-II Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Xiangyi; Abdukerim, Abdusalam; Chen, Wei; Chen, Xun; Chen, Yunhua; Dong, Binbin; Fang, Deqing; Fu, Changbo; Giboni, Karl; Giuliani, Franco; Gu, Linhui; Gu, Yikun; Guo, Xuyuan; Guo, Zhifan; Han, Ke; He, Changda; Huang, Di; He, Shengming; Huang, Xingtao; Huang, Zhou; Ji, Xiangdong; Ju, Yonglin; Li, Shaoli; Li, Yao; Lin, Heng; Liu, Huaxuan; Liu, Jianglai; Ma, Yugang; Mao, Yajun; Ni, Kaixiang; Ning, Jinhua; Ren, Xiangxiang; Shi, Fang; Tan, Andi; Wang, Cheng; Wang, Hongwei; Wang, Meng; Wang, Qiuhong; Wang, Siguang; Wang, Xiuli; Wang, Xuming; Wu, Qinyu; Wu, Shiyong; Xiao, Mengjiao; Xie, Pengwei; Yan, Binbin; Yang, Yong; Yue, Jianfeng; Zhang, Dan; Zhang, Hongguang; Zhang, Tao; Zhang, Tianqi; Zhao, Li; Zhou, Jifang; Zhou, Ning; Zhou, Xiaopeng; PandaX-II Collaboration

    2017-11-01

    We report a new search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using the combined low background data sets acquired in 2016 and 2017 from the PandaX-II experiment in China. The latest data set contains a new exposure of 77.1 live days, with the background reduced to a level of 0.8 ×10-3 evt /kg /day , improved by a factor of 2.5 in comparison to the previous run in 2016. No excess events are found above the expected background. With a total exposure of 5.4 ×104 kg day , the most stringent upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section is set for a WIMP with mass larger than 100 GeV /c2 , with the lowest 90% C.L. exclusion at 8.6 ×10-47 cm2 at 40 GeV /c2 .

  4. Ultra low energy-ultra low background high purity germanium detectors for studies on dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soma, A.K.; Singh, V.; Singh, L.; Singh, M.K.; Wong, H.T.

    2009-01-01

    Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) are the leading DM candidates. Super symmetric particles (SUSY) are one of the leading WIMP candidates. To probe this least explored region Taiwan EXperiments On NeutrinO collaboration is pursuing research and development program by using High Purity Germanium detectors (HPGe). These detectors offer a matured technology to scale up the detectors and achieve sub-keV level threshold i.e. few hundreds of eV, economically. The various detectors developed by the collaboration is shown in the below figure. The current goal of the collaboration is to develop detectors of kg-scale target mass, ∼100 eV threshold and low-background specification for the studies on WIMPs, μ v and neutrino - nucleus coherent scattering

  5. Carrier Transport and Related Effects in Detectors of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sundqvist, Kyle Michael [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2012-01-01

    The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) is searching for weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPS), which could explain the dark matter problem in cosmology and particle physics. By simultaneously measuring signals from deposited charge and the energy in nonequilibrium phonons created by particle interactions in intrinsic germanium crystals at a temperature of 40 mK, a signature response for each event is produced. This response, combined with phonon pulse-shape information, allows CDMS to actively discriminate candidate WIMP interactions with nuclei from electromagnetic radioactive background which interacts with electrons. The challenges associated with these techniques are unique. Carrier scattering is dominated by the spontaneous emission of Luke-Neganov phonons due to zeropoint fluctuations of the lattice ions. Drift fields are maintained at only a few V/cm, else these emitted phonons would dominate the phonons of the original interaction. The dominant systematic issues with CDMS detectors are due to the effects of space charge accumulation. It has been an open question how space charge accrues, and by which of several potential recombination and ionization processes. In this work, we have simulated the transport of electrons and holes in germanium under CDMS conditions. We have implemented both a traditional Monte Carlo technique based on carrier energy, followed later by a novel Monte Carlo algorithm with scattering rates defined and sampled by vector momentum. This vector-based method provides for a full anisotropic simulation of carrier transport including free-fight acceleration with an anisotropic mass, and anisotropic scattering rates. With knowledge of steady state carrier dynamics as a function of applied field, the results of our Monte Carlo simulations allow us to make a wide variety of predictions for energy dependent processes for both electrons and holes. Such processes include carrier capture by charged impurities, neutral impurities, static

  6. Dark matter limits from a 15 kg windowless bubble chamber

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szydagis, Matthew Mark

    2010-01-01

    The COUPP collaboration has successfully used bubble chambers, a technology previously applied only to high-energy physics experiments, as direct dark matter detectors. It has produced the world's most stringent spin-dependent WIMP limits, and increasingly competitive spin-independent limits. These limits were achieved by capitalizing on an intrinsic rejection of the gamma background that all other direct detection experiments must address through high-density shielding and empirically-determined data cuts. The history of COUPP, including its earliest prototypes and latest results, is briefly discussed in this thesis. The feasibility of a new, windowless bubble chamber concept simpler and more inexpensive in design is discussed here as well. The dark matter limits achieved with a 15 kg windowless chamber, larger than any previous COUPP chamber (2 kg, 4 kg), are presented. Evidence of the greater radiopurity of synthetic quartz compared to natural is presented using the data from this 15 kg device, the first chamber to be made from synthetic quartz. The effective reconstruction of the three-dimensional positions of bubbles in a highly distorted optical field, with ninety-degree bottom lighting similar to cloud chamber lighting, is demonstrated. Another innovation described in this thesis is the use of the sound produced by bubbles recorded by an array of piezoelectric sensors as the primary means of bubble detection. In other COUPP chambers, cameras have been used as the primary trigger. Previous work on bubble acoustic signature differentiation using piezos is built upon in order to further demonstrate the ability to discriminate between alpha- and neutron-induced events.

  7. A search for non-baryonic dark matter using an ionisation bolometer in the edelweiss experiment; Recherche de matiere sombre non-baryonique au moyen d`un bolometre a ionisation dans le cadre de l`experience edelweiss

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Di Stefano, Ph [CEA Saclay, 91 - Gif-sur-Yvette (France). Dept. d` Astrophysique, de la Physique des Particules, de la Physique Nucleaire et de l` Instrumentation Associee; [Paris-11 Univ., 91 - Orsay (France)

    1998-09-24

    The EDELWEISS experiment is an underground direct-detection search for hypothetical supersymmetric WIMPs that might solve the problem of dark matter. We have employed a cryogenic 70 g germanium ionisation bolometer, in which a WIMP would scatter elastically off a nucleus, creating both a heat and an ionisation signal. To offset the various electronic noises present in our necessarily small signals, we have s applied an optimal filtering technique in the frequency domain. This allows us to reach resolutions of 1.2 keV FWHM at 122 keV on north channels. It also provides good separation right down to low energies between the expected signal of nuclear recoils, and the photonic background of electron recoils which ionize more for a given energy. Calibration data show that we are able to reject 99.7 % of this background, while keeping 95% of the signal. However, our 1.17 kg.days of data searching for WIMPs show a third population encroaching on the expected signal. This is probably due to low energy photons or electrons interacting in the outer layers of the crystal, where charges are incompletely collected. Nevertheless, by trading off half of the conserved signal, we still manage to reject 98.5 % of the background. Thus the raw rate of 40 evts/d/kg/keV yields a conservative 90 % upper limit on the signal of 0.6 evts/d/kg/keV. This represents nearly a three orders of magnitude improvement for EDELWEISS, and puts the predicted supersymmetric phase space within two orders of magnitude. (author) 196 refs.

  8. Sapphire scintillation tests for cryogenic detectors in the Edelweiss dark matter search

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luca, M

    2007-07-15

    Identifying the matter in the universe is one of the main challenges of modern cosmology and astrophysics. An important part of this matter seems to be made of non-baryonic particles. Edelweiss is a direct dark matter search using cryogenic germanium bolometers in order to look for particles that interact very weakly with the ordinary matter, generically known as WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). An important challenge for Edelweiss is the radioactive background and one of the ways to identify it is to use a larger variety of target crystals. Sapphire is a light target which can be complementary to the germanium crystals already in use. Spectroscopic characterization studies have been performed using different sapphire samples in order to find the optimum doping concentration for good low temperature scintillation. Ti doped crystals with weak Ti concentrations have been used for systematic X ray excitation tests both at room temperature and down to 30 K. The tests have shown that the best Ti concentration for optimum room temperature scintillation is 100 ppm and 50 ppm at T = 45 K. All concentrations have been checked by optical absorption and fluorescence. After having shown that sapphire had interesting characteristics for building heat-scintillation detectors, we have tested if using a sapphire detector was feasible within a dark matter search. During the first commissioning tests of Edelweiss-II, we have proved the compatibility between a sapphire heat scintillation detector and the experimental setup. (author)

  9. Dark energy and dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Comelli, D.; Pietroni, M.; Riotto, A.

    2003-01-01

    It is a puzzle why the densities of dark matter and dark energy are nearly equal today when they scale so differently during the expansion of the universe. This conundrum may be solved if there is a coupling between the two dark sectors. In this Letter we assume that dark matter is made of cold relics with masses depending exponentially on the scalar field associated to dark energy. Since the dynamics of the system is dominated by an attractor solution, the dark matter particle mass is forced to change with time as to ensure that the ratio between the energy densities of dark matter and dark energy become a constant at late times and one readily realizes that the present-day dark matter abundance is not very sensitive to its value when dark matter particles decouple from the thermal bath. We show that the dependence of the present abundance of cold dark matter on the parameters of the model differs drastically from the familiar results where no connection between dark energy and dark matter is present. In particular, we analyze the case in which the cold dark matter particle is the lightest supersymmetric particle

  10. The effects of the small-scale behaviour of dark matter power spectrum on CMB spectral distortion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sarkar, Abir; Sethi, Shiv K. [Raman Research Institute, CV Raman Ave Sadashivnagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560080 (India); Das, Subinoy, E-mail: abir@rri.res.in, E-mail: sethi@rri.res.in, E-mail: subinoy@iiap.res.in [Indian Institute of Astrophysics, 100 Feet Rd, Madiwala, 2nd Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560034 (India)

    2017-07-01

    After numerous astronomical and experimental searches, the precise particle nature of dark matter is still unknown. The standard Weakly Interacting Massive Particle(WIMP) dark matter, despite successfully explaining the large-scale features of the universe, has long-standing small-scale issues. The spectral distortion in the Cosmic Microwave Background(CMB) caused by Silk damping in the pre-recombination era allows one to access information on a range of small scales 0.3 Mpc < k < 10{sup 4} Mpc{sup −1}, whose dynamics can be precisely described using linear theory. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of using the Silk damping induced CMB spectral distortion as a probe of the small-scale power. We consider four suggested alternative dark matter candidates—Warm Dark Matter (WDM), Late Forming Dark Matter (LFDM), Ultra Light Axion (ULA) dark matter and Charged Decaying Dark Matter (CHDM); the matter power in all these models deviate significantly from the ΛCDM model at small scales. We compute the spectral distortion of CMB for these alternative models and compare our results with the ΛCDM model. We show that the main impact of alternative models is to alter the sub-horizon evolution of the Newtonian potential which affects the late-time behaviour of spectral distortion of CMB. The y -parameter diminishes by a few percent as compared to the ΛCDM model for a range of parameters of these models: LFDM for formation redshift z {sub f} = 10{sup 5} (7%); WDM for mass m {sub wdm} = 1 keV (2%); CHDM for decay redshift z {sub decay} = 10{sup 5} (5%); ULA for mass m {sub a} = 10{sup −24} eV (3%). This effect from the pre-recombination era can be masked by orders of magnitude higher y -distortions generated by late-time sources, e.g. the Epoch of Reionization and tSZ from the cluster of galaxies. We also briefly discuss the detectability of this deviation in light of the upcoming CMB experiment PIXIE, which might have the sensitivity to detect this signal from

  11. Weak lensing: Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Dark Gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heavens, Alan

    2009-01-01

    In this non-specialist review I look at how weak lensing can provide information on the dark sector of the Universe. The review concentrates on what can be learned about Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Dark Gravity, and why. On Dark Matter, results on the confrontation of theoretical profiles with observation are reviewed, and measurements of neutrino masses discussed. On Dark Energy, the interest is whether this could be Einstein's cosmological constant, and prospects for high-precision studies of the equation of state are considered. On Dark Gravity, we consider the exciting prospects for future weak lensing surveys to distinguish General Relativity from extra-dimensional or other gravity theories.

  12. Baryon-to-dark matter ratio from random angular fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, John

    2013-01-01

    We consider the baryon-to-dark matter ratio in models where the dark matter and baryon densities depend on angular fields θ d and θ b according to ρ d ∝θ d α and ρ b ∝θ b β , with all values of θ d and θ b being equally probable in a given randomly-selected domain. Under the assumption that anthropic selection depends primarily on the baryon density in galaxies at spherical collapse, we show that the probability density function for the baryon-to-dark matter ratio r = Ω B /Ω DM is purely statistical in nature and is independent of anthropic selection. We compute the probability density function for r as a function of α and β and show that the observed value of the baryon-to-dark matter ratio, r ≈ 1/5, is natural in this framework

  13. The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akerib, D.S.; Bai, X.; Bedikian, S.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Bolozdynya, A.; Bradley, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S.B.; Camp, C.; Carmona-Benitez, M.C.; Carr, D.; Chapman, J.J.; Chiller, A.; Chiller, C.; Clark, K.; Classen, T.; Coffey, T.; Curioni, A.

    2013-01-01

    The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) collaboration has designed and constructed a dual-phase xenon detector, in order to conduct a search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), a leading dark matter candidate. The goal of the LUX detector is to clearly detect (or exclude) WIMPS with a spin independent cross-section per nucleon of 2×10 −46 cm 2 , equivalent to ∼1event/100kg/month in the inner 100-kg fiducial volume (FV) of the 370-kg detector. The overall background goals are set to have <1 background events characterized as possible WIMPs in the FV in 300 days of running. This paper describes the design and construction of the LUX detector

  14. Results and status of the Edelweiss Wimp search experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benoit, A.; Berge, L.; Blumer, J.; Broniatowski, A.; Censier, B.; Chabert, L.; Chambon, B.; Chapellier, M.; Chardin, G.; Charvin, P.; Jesus, M. de; Drain, D.; Di Stefano, P.; Dumoulin, L.; Eitel, K.; Fesquet, M.; Firucci, S.; Gascon, J.; Gerbier, G.; Gerlic, E.; Goldbach, C.; Goyot, M.; Gros, M.; Habermahl, F.; Horn, M.; Hadjout, J.P.; Herve, S.; Juillard, A.; Kikuchi, C.; Lesquen, A. de; Luca, M.; Mallet, J.; Marnieros, S.; Martineau, O.; Mosca, L.; Navick, X.F.; Nollez, G.; Pari, P.; Riccio, C.; Sanglard, V.; Stern, M.; Vagneron, L.; Villard, V.

    2005-01-01

    In the Edelweiss experiment, nuclear recoils induced by elastic collisions with WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particle) from the galactic halo are identified in low-temperature Ge detectors where the ratio of the heat and ionization signals provide an event-by-event discrimination of nuclear recoils from the dominant background coming from γ-rays interactions. The Edelweiss experiment is located in the Modane underground facility in order to cut the muon flux drastically. We present here the results obtained during the first part of the experiment named Edelweiss-I that ended in the beginning of 2004. Since october 2002, 3 optimized 320 grams detectors have been simultaneously operated at a regulated temperature of 0.017 K and about 50 kg*day were added to the previous published data. These data are still under analysis but preliminary results concerning the upper limit at 90% CL (confidence level) confirm the limit already published in 2002. The first run of Edelweiss-II is due to begin during summer 2005, we are expecting to gain 2 orders of magnitude in terms of detector sensitivity and reach 0.002 events/day*kg. (A.C.)

  15. Search for an Annual Modulation in a p-Type Point Contact Germanium Dark Matter Detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barbeau, P.S. [University of Chicago; Collar, J.I. [University of Chicago; Fields, N. [University of Chicago; Hossbach, T.W. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Aalseth, C.E. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Fast, James E. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Keillor, M. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Kephart, J.D. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Miley, H.S. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Orrell, John L. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Colaresi, James F. [Canberra Industries, Inc., Meriden, CT; Yocum, K. Michael [Canberra Industries, Inc., Meriden, CT; Leon, J. Diaz [University of Washington, Ctr Expt Nucle Phys & Astrophys; Knecht, A. [University of Washington, Ctr Expt Nucle Phys & Astrophys; Marino, M. G. [University of Washington, Ctr Expt Nucle Phys & Astrophys; Miller, M. L. [University of Washington, Ctr Expt Nucle Phys & Astrophys; Radford, David C [ORNL; Wilkerson, John F [University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

    2011-01-01

    Fifteen months of cumulative CoGeNT data are examined for indications of an annual modulation, a predicted signature of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) interactions. Presently available data support the presence of a modulated component of unknown origin, with parameters prima facie compatible with a galactic halo composed of light-mass WIMPs. Unoptimized estimators yield a statistical significance for a modulation of {approx}2.8{sigma}, limited by the short exposure.

  16. Dark matter and dark radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ackerman, Lotty; Buckley, Matthew R.; Carroll, Sean M.; Kamionkowski, Marc

    2009-01-01

    We explore the feasibility and astrophysical consequences of a new long-range U(1) gauge field ('dark electromagnetism') that couples only to dark matter, not to the standard model. The dark matter consists of an equal number of positive and negative charges under the new force, but annihilations are suppressed if the dark-matter mass is sufficiently high and the dark fine-structure constant α-circumflex is sufficiently small. The correct relic abundance can be obtained if the dark matter also couples to the conventional weak interactions, and we verify that this is consistent with particle-physics constraints. The primary limit on α-circumflex comes from the demand that the dark matter be effectively collisionless in galactic dynamics, which implies α-circumflex -3 for TeV-scale dark matter. These values are easily compatible with constraints from structure formation and primordial nucleosynthesis. We raise the prospect of interesting new plasma effects in dark-matter dynamics, which remain to be explored.

  17. Hypothetical Dark Matter/axion Rockets:. Dark Matter in Terms of Space Physics Propulsion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckwith, A.

    2010-12-01

    Current proposed photon rocket designs include the Nuclear Photonic Rocket and the Antimatter Photonic Rocket (proposed by Eugen Sanger in the 1950s, as reported by Ref. 1). This paper examines the feasibility of improving the thrust of photon-driven ramjet propulsion by using DM rocket propulsion. The open question is: would a heavy WIMP, if converted to photons, upgrade the power (thrust) of a photon rocket drive, to make interstellar travel a feasible proposition?

  18. Genome features of "Dark-fly", a Drosophila line reared long-term in a dark environment.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minako Izutsu

    Full Text Available Organisms are remarkably adapted to diverse environments by specialized metabolisms, morphology, or behaviors. To address the molecular mechanisms underlying environmental adaptation, we have utilized a Drosophila melanogaster line, termed "Dark-fly", which has been maintained in constant dark conditions for 57 years (1400 generations. We found that Dark-fly exhibited higher fecundity in dark than in light conditions, indicating that Dark-fly possesses some traits advantageous in darkness. Using next-generation sequencing technology, we determined the whole genome sequence of Dark-fly and identified approximately 220,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs and 4,700 insertions or deletions (InDels in the Dark-fly genome compared to the genome of the Oregon-R-S strain, a control strain. 1.8% of SNPs were classified as non-synonymous SNPs (nsSNPs: i.e., they alter the amino acid sequence of gene products. Among them, we detected 28 nonsense mutations (i.e., they produce a stop codon in the protein sequence in the Dark-fly genome. These included genes encoding an olfactory receptor and a light receptor. We also searched runs of homozygosity (ROH regions as putative regions selected during the population history, and found 21 ROH regions in the Dark-fly genome. We identified 241 genes carrying nsSNPs or InDels in the ROH regions. These include a cluster of alpha-esterase genes that are involved in detoxification processes. Furthermore, analysis of structural variants in the Dark-fly genome showed the deletion of a gene related to fatty acid metabolism. Our results revealed unique features of the Dark-fly genome and provided a list of potential candidate genes involved in environmental adaptation.

  19. The gamma-ray-flux PDF from galactic halo substructure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Samuel K.; Ando, Shin'ichiro; Kamionkowski, Marc

    2009-01-01

    One of the targets of the recently launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is a diffuse gamma-ray background from dark-matter annihilation or decay in the Galactic halo. N-body simulations and theoretical arguments suggest that the dark matter in the Galactic halo may be clumped into substructure, rather than smoothly distributed. Here we propose the gamma-ray-flux probability distribution function (PDF) as a probe of substructure in the Galactic halo. We calculate this PDF for a phenomenological model of halo substructure and determine the regions of the substructure parameter space in which the PDF may be distinguished from the PDF for a smooth distribution of dark matter. In principle, the PDF allows a statistical detection of substructure, even if individual halos cannot be detected. It may also allow detection of substructure on the smallest microhalo mass scales, ∼ M ⊕ , for weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Furthermore, it may also provide a method to measure the substructure mass function. However, an analysis that assumes a typical halo substructure model and a conservative estimate of the diffuse background suggests that the substructure PDF may not be detectable in the lifespan of Fermi in the specific case that the WIMP is a neutralino. Nevertheless, for a large range of substructure, WIMP annihilation, and diffuse background models, PDF analysis may provide a clear signature of substructure

  20. First search for a dark matter annual modulation signal with NaI(Tl) in the Southern Hemisphere by DM-Ice17

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barbosa de Souza, E.; Cherwinka, J.; Cole, A.; Ezeribe, A. C.; Grant, D.; Halzen, F.; Heeger, K. M.; Hsu, L.; Hubbard, A. J. F.; Jo, J. H.; Karle, A.; Kauer, M.; Kudryavtsev, V. A.; Lim, K. E.; Macdonald, C.; Maruyama, R. H.; Mouton, F.; Paling, S. M.; Pettus, W.; Pierpoint, Z. P.; Reilly, B. N.; Robinson, M.; Rogers, F. R.; Sandstrom, P.; Scarff, A.; Spooner, N. J. C.; Telfer, S.; Yang, L.

    2017-02-28

    The first search for a dark matter annual modulation signal with NaI(Tl) target material in the Southern Hemisphere conducted with the DM-Ice17 experiment is presented. DM-Ice17 consists of 17 kg of NaI(Tl) scintillating crystal under 2200 m.w.e. overburden of Antarctic glacial ice. The analysis presented here utilizes a 60.8 kg yr exposure. While unable to exclude the signal reported by DAMA/LIBRA, the DM-Ice17 data are consistent with no modulation in the energy range of 4-20 keV, providing the strongest limits on WIMP candidates from a direct detection experiment located in the Southern Hemisphere. Additionally, the successful deployment and stable operation of 17 kg of NaI(Tl) crystal over 3.5 years establishes the South Pole ice as a viable location for future underground, low-background experiments.

  1. Searching for the dark universe by the DAMA experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernabei, R.; Amato, M.; Belli, P.; Cappella, F.; Cerulli, R.; Dai, C.J.; Ignesti, G.; Incicchitti, A.; Kuang, H.H.; Ma, J.M.; Montecchia, F.; Nozzoli, F.; Ye, Z.P.; Prosperi, D.

    2003-01-01

    DAMA is searching for rare processes by developing and using several kinds of radiopure scintillators. In particular, here the results released so far on the WIMP annual modulation signature are discussed and next perspectives are shortly addressed

  2. Quantum Field Theory of Interacting Dark Matter/Dark Energy: Dark Monodromies

    CERN Document Server

    D'Amico, Guido; Kaloper, Nemanja

    2016-11-28

    We discuss how to formulate a quantum field theory of dark energy interacting with dark matter. We show that the proposals based on the assumption that dark matter is made up of heavy particles with masses which are very sensitive to the value of dark energy are strongly constrained. Quintessence-generated long range forces and radiative stability of the quintessence potential require that such dark matter and dark energy are completely decoupled. However, if dark energy and a fraction of dark matter are very light axions, they can have significant mixings which are radiatively stable and perfectly consistent with quantum field theory. Such models can naturally occur in multi-axion realizations of monodromies. The mixings yield interesting signatures which are observable and are within current cosmological limits but could be constrained further by future observations.

  3. Consequences of DM/antiDM oscillations for asymmetric WIMP darkmatter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cirelli, M.; Panci, P.; Servant, G.

    2012-01-01

    Assuming the existence of a primordial asymmetry in the dark sector, a scenario usually dubbed Asymmetric Dark Matter (aDM), we study the effect of oscillations between dark matter and its antiparticle on the re-equilibration of the initial asymmetry before freeze-out, which enable efficient...... a primordial asymmetry of the same order as the baryon asymmetry naturally gets the correct relic abundance if the DM-number-violating Delta(DM) = 2 mass term is in the similar to meV range. The re-establishment of annihilations implies that constraints from the accumulation of aDM in astrophysical bodies...

  4. RTS noise and dark current white defects reduction using selective averaging based on a multi-aperture system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Bo; Kagawa, Keiichiro; Takasawa, Taishi; Seo, Min Woong; Yasutomi, Keita; Kawahito, Shoji

    2014-01-16

    In extremely low-light conditions, random telegraph signal (RTS) noise and dark current white defects become visible. In this paper, a multi-aperture imaging system and selective averaging method which removes the RTS noise and the dark current white defects by minimizing the synthetic sensor noise at every pixel is proposed. In the multi-aperture imaging system, a very small synthetic F-number which is much smaller than 1.0 is achieved by increasing optical gain with multiple lenses. It is verified by simulation that the effective noise normalized by optical gain in the peak of noise histogram is reduced from 1.38e⁻ to 0.48 e⁻ in a 3 × 3-aperture system using low-noise CMOS image sensors based on folding-integration and cyclic column ADCs. In the experiment, a prototype 3 × 3-aperture camera, where each aperture has 200 × 200 pixels and an imaging lens with a focal length of 3.0 mm and F-number of 3.0, is developed. Under a low-light condition, in which the maximum average signal is 11e⁻ per aperture, the RTS and dark current white defects are removed and the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the image is increased by 6.3 dB.

  5. Search for an annual modulation of dark-matter signals with a germanium spectrometer at the Sierra Grande Laboratory

    CERN Document Server

    Abriola, D.; Brodzinski, R.L.; Collar, J.I.; Di Gregorio, D.E.; Farach, H.A.; Garcia, E.; Gattone, A.O.; Guerard, C.K.; Hasenbalg, F.; Huck, H.; Miley, H.S.; Morales, A.; Morales, J.; Ortiz de Solorzano, A.; Puimedon, J.; Reeves, J.H.; Salinas, A.; Sarsa, M.L.; Villar, J.A.

    1999-01-01

    Data collected during three years with a germanium spectrometer at the Sierra Grande underground laboratory have been analyzed for distinctive features of annual modulation of the signal induced by WIMP dark matter candidates. The main motivation for this analysis was the recent suggestion by the DAMA/NaI Collaboration that a yearly modulation signal could not be rejected at the 90% confidence level when analyzing data obtained with a high-mass low-background scintillator detector. We performed two different analyses of the data: First, the statistical distribution of modulation-significance variables (expected from an experiment running under the conditions of Sierra Grande) was compared with the same variables obtained from the data. Second, the data were analyzed in energy bins as an independent check of the first result and to allow for the possibility of a crossover in the expected signal. In both cases no statistically significant deviation from the null result was found, which could support the hypothe...

  6. Study of new germanium bolometers with interleaved concentric electrodes for non-baryonic cold dark matter direct detection in the Edelweiss-II experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Domange, J.

    2011-09-01

    EDELWEISS is a direct non-baryonic cold dark matter detection experiment in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (also known as WIMPs), which currently constitute the most popular candidates to account for the missing mass in the Universe. To this purpose, EDELWEISS uses germanium bolometers at cryogenic temperature (20 mK approximately) in the Underground Laboratory of Modane (LSM) at the French-Italian border. Since 2008, a new type of detector is operated, equipped with concentric electrodes to optimize the rejection of surface events (coplanar-grid detectors). This thesis work is divided into several research orientations. First, we carried out measurements concerning charge collection in the crystals. The velocity laws of the carriers (electrons and holes) have been determined in germanium at 20 mK in the orientation, and a complete study of charge sharing has been done, including an evaluation of the transport anisotropy and of the straggling of the carriers. These results lead to a better understanding of the inner properties of the EDELWEISS detectors. Then, studies relating to the improvement of the performances were carried out. In particular, we have optimized the space-charge cancellation procedure in the crystals and improved the passive rejection of surface events (β). The fiducial volume of the detectors has been evaluated using two X-ray lines from cosmically activated radionuclides: 68 Ge and 65 Zn. Finally, an exhaustive study of the low energy spectra has been carried out, which makes it possible to develop a systematic analysis method for the search of low-mass WIMPs in EDELWEISS. (author)

  7. Dark matter that can form dark stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gondolo, Paolo; Huh, Ji-Haeng; Kim, Hyung Do; Scopel, Stefano

    2010-01-01

    The first stars to form in the Universe may be powered by the annihilation of weakly interacting dark matter particles. These so-called dark stars, if observed, may give us a clue about the nature of dark matter. Here we examine which models for particle dark matter satisfy the conditions for the formation of dark stars. We find that in general models with thermal dark matter lead to the formation of dark stars, with few notable exceptions: heavy neutralinos in the presence of coannihilations, annihilations that are resonant at dark matter freeze-out but not in dark stars, some models of neutrinophilic dark matter annihilating into neutrinos only and lighter than about 50 GeV. In particular, we find that a thermal DM candidate in standard Cosmology always forms a dark star as long as its mass is heavier than ≅ 50 GeV and the thermal average of its annihilation cross section is the same at the decoupling temperature and during the dark star formation, as for instance in the case of an annihilation cross section with a non-vanishing s-wave contribution

  8. Dark-matter QCD-axion searches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosenberg, Leslie J

    2010-01-01

    The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle appearing in a simple and elegant extension to the Standard Model of particle physics that cancels otherwise huge CP-violating effects in QCD; this extension has a broken U(1) axial symmetry, where the resulting Goldstone Boson is the axion. A light axion of mass 10 -(6-3) eV (the so-called i nvisible axion ) would couple extraordinarily weakly to normal matter and radiation and would therefore be extremely difficult to detect in the laboratory. However, such an axion would be a compelling dark-matter candidate and is therefore a target of a number of searches. Compared to other dark-matter candidates, the plausible range of axion dark-matter couplings and masses is narrowly constrained. This restricted search space allows for 'definitive' searches, where non-observation would seriously impugn the dark-matter QCD-axion hypothesis. Axion searches employ a wide range of technologies and techniques, from astrophysical observations to laboratory electromagnetic signal detection. For some experiments, sensitivities are have reached likely dark-matter axion couplings and masses. This is a brief and selective overview of axion searches. With only very limited space, I briefly describe just two of the many experiments that are searching for dark-matter axions.

  9. Shrinking of Binaries in a WIMPY Background at the Galactic Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hills, J. G.

    2001-12-01

    The nature of the dark matter in the Galactic Halo is still not clear. Constraints can be placed on it; e.g., it cannot be in baryons less massive than about 1022 grams (Hills, 1986, Astron. J. 92, 595). It may be in elementary weakly interacting massive particles, WIMPS. Apart from providing most of the mass of the Galaxy, the only known significant dynamical effect of WIMPS is to cause a gradual shrinking of tightly bound binaries (Hills 1983, Astron. J. 88, 1269) as they interact with the background soup of WIMPS. This effect may be observable in binaries close to the Galactic Center if a significant fraction of the mass density near the central black hole is from WIMPS. The requisite binaries would have to have orbital velocities greater than the local velocity dispersion of the WIMPS relative to the binary. The velocity dispersion increases near the black hole. The binary cannot be too close to the black hole or its tidal field will breakup the binary. If the local WIMP density is 107 g/cm3, the fractional rate of reduction in the binary orbital period is about 5 x 10-10/yr for a binary having a semimajor axis equal to 3 solar radii in a soup of WIMPS having a velocity dispersion of 200 km/s relative to the binary. This gradual erosion of the binary period may be detectable, particularly, if one of the binary components is a pulsar.

  10. A dark hollow beam from a selectively liquid-filled photonic crystal fibre

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mei-Yan, Zhang; Shu-Guang, Li; Yan-Yan, Yao; Bo, Fu; Lei, Zhang

    2010-01-01

    This paper reports that, based on the electromagnetic scattering theory of the multipole method, a high-quality hollow beam is produced through a selectively liquid-filled photonic crystal fibre. Instead of a doughnut shape, a typical hollow beam is produced by other methods; the mode-field images of the hollow-beam photonic crystal fibre satisfy sixth-order rotation symmetry, according to the symmetry of the photonic crystal fibre (PCF) structure. A dark spot size of the liquid-filled photonic crystal fibre-generated hollow beam can be tuned by inserting liquid into the cladding region and varying the photonic crystal fibre structure parameters. The liquid-filled PCF makes a convenient and flexible tool for the guiding and trapping of atoms and the creation of all-fibre optical tweezers. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)

  11. Decaying dark matter from dark instantons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carone, Christopher D.; Erlich, Joshua; Primulando, Reinard

    2010-01-01

    We construct an explicit, TeV-scale model of decaying dark matter in which the approximate stability of the dark matter candidate is a consequence of a global symmetry that is broken only by instanton-induced operators generated by a non-Abelian dark gauge group. The dominant dark matter decay channels are to standard model leptons. Annihilation of the dark matter to standard model states occurs primarily through the Higgs portal. We show that the mass and lifetime of the dark matter candidate in this model can be chosen to be consistent with the values favored by fits to data from the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT experiments.

  12. Classification and Recursion Operators of Dark Burgers' Equation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Mei-Dan; Li, Biao

    2018-01-01

    With the help of symbolic computation, two types of complete scalar classification for dark Burgers' equations are derived by requiring the existence of higher order differential polynomial symmetries. There are some free parameters for every class of dark Burgers' systems; so some special equations including symmetry equation and dual symmetry equation are obtained by selecting the free parameter. Furthermore, two kinds of recursion operators for these dark Burgers' equations are constructed by two direct assumption methods.

  13. CERN Academic training programme 2011

    CERN Multimedia

    PH Department

    2011-01-01

    Regular lecture   24, 25, 26 and 27 May 2011 from 11:00 to 12:00 at CERN (Bldg. 222-R-001 - Filtration Plant) Particle Dark Matter by Pippa Wells (CERN) I review the phenomenology of particle dark matter, including the process of thermal freeze-out in the early universe, and the direct and indirect detection of WIMPs. I also describe some of the most popular particle candidates for dark matter and summarize the current status of the quest to discover dark matter’s particle identity. Organiser: Maureen Prola-Tessaur/PH-EDU

  14. Compendium of Instrumentation Whitepapers on Frontier Physics Needs for Snowmass 2013

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lipton, R. [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Contents of collection of whitepapers include: Operation of Collider Experiments at High Luminosity; Level 1 Track Triggers at HL-LHC; Tracking and Vertex Detectors for a Muon Collider; Triggers for hadron colliders at the energy frontier; ATLAS Upgrade Instrumentation; Instrumentation for the Energy Frontier; Particle Flow Calorimetry for CMS; Noble Liquid Calorimeters; Hadronic dual-readout calorimetry for high energy colliders; Another Detector for the International Linear Collider; e+e- Linear Colliders Detector Requirements and Limitations; Electromagnetic Calorimetry in Project X Experiments The Project X Physics Study; Intensity Frontier Instrumentation; Project X Physics Study Calorimetry Report; Project X Physics Study Tracking Report; The LHCb Upgrade; Neutrino Detectors Working Group Summary; Advanced Water Cherenkov R&D for WATCHMAN; Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC); Liquid Scintillator Instrumentation for Physics Frontiers; A readout architecture for 100,000 pixel Microwave Kinetic In- ductance Detector array; Instrumentation for New Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background polarization; Future Atmospheric and Water Cherenkov ?-ray Detectors; Dark Energy; Can Columnar Recombination Provide Directional Sensitivity in WIMP Search?; Instrumentation Needs for Detection of Ultra-high Energy Neu- trinos; Low Background Materials for Direct Detection of Dark Matter; Physics Motivation for WIMP Dark Matter Directional Detection; Solid Xenon R&D at Fermilab; Ultra High Energy Neutrinos; Instrumentation Frontier: Direct Detection of WIMPs; nEXO detector R&D; Large Arrays of Air Cherenkov Detectors; and Applications of Laser Interferometry in Fundamental Physics Experiments.

  15. On the DEAP-3600 resurfacing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giampa, P.

    2018-01-01

    The DEAP-3600 experiment is a single-phase detector that can hold up to 3600 kg of liquid argon to search for dark matter at SNOLAB in Sudbury Canada, 6800 ft. underground. The projected sensitivity to the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section is 10-46 cm2 for a WIMP mass of 100 GeV/c2. One of the primary background sources to the WIMP search are alpha decays occurring on the surface of the experiment, which only deposit a tiny fraction of their energy in the argon. The work reported here focuses on the development and operation of a custom designed robot, the Resurfacer, which was used to remove 500 micrometers from the inner-most layer of the detector's acrylic cryostat, thus removing contaminations introduced during construction.

  16. Dark Matter Benchmark Models for Early LHC Run-2 Searches: Report of the ATLAS/CMS Dark Matter Forum

    CERN Document Server

    Abercrombie, Daniel; Akilli, Ece; Alcaraz Maestre, Juan; Allen, Brandon; Alvarez Gonzalez, Barbara; Andrea, Jeremy; Arbey, Alexandre; Azuelos, Georges; Azzi, Patrizia; Backovic, Mihailo; Bai, Yang; Banerjee, Swagato; Beacham, James; Belyaev, Alexander; Boveia, Antonio; Brennan, Amelia Jean; Buchmueller, Oliver; Buckley, Matthew R.; Busoni, Giorgio; Buttignol, Michael; Cacciapaglia, Giacomo; Caputo, Regina; Carpenter, Linda; Filipe Castro, Nuno; Gomez Ceballos, Guillelmo; Cheng, Yangyang; Chou, John Paul; Cortes Gonzalez, Arely; Cowden, Chris; D'Eramo, Francesco; De Cosa, Annapaola; De Gruttola, Michele; De Roeck, Albert; De Simone, Andrea; Deandrea, Aldo; Demiragli, Zeynep; DiFranzo, Anthony; Doglioni, Caterina; du Pree, Tristan; Erbacher, Robin; Erdmann, Johannes; Fischer, Cora; Flaecher, Henning; Fox, Patrick J.; Fuks, Benjamin; Genest, Marie-Helene; Gomber, Bhawna; Goudelis, Andreas; Gramling, Johanna; Gunion, John; Hahn, Kristian; Haisch, Ulrich; Harnik, Roni; Harris, Philip C.; Hoepfner, Kerstin; Hoh, Siew Yan; Hsu, Dylan George; Hsu, Shih-Chieh; Iiyama, Yutaro; Ippolito, Valerio; Jacques, Thomas; Ju, Xiangyang; Kahlhoefer, Felix; Kalogeropoulos, Alexis; Kaplan, Laser Seymour; Kashif, Lashkar; Khoze, Valentin V.; Khurana, Raman; Kotov, Khristian; Kovalskyi, Dmytro; Kulkarni, Suchita; Kunori, Shuichi; Kutzner, Viktor; Lee, Hyun Min; Lee, Sung-Won; Liew, Seng Pei; Lin, Tongyan; Lowette, Steven; Madar, Romain; Malik, Sarah; Maltoni, Fabio; Martinez Perez, Mario; Mattelaer, Olivier; Mawatari, Kentarou; McCabe, Christopher; Megy, Theo; Morgante, Enrico; Mrenna, Stephen; Narayanan, Siddharth M.; Nelson, Andy; Novaes, Sergio F.; Padeken, Klaas Ole; Pani, Priscilla; Papucci, Michele; Paulini, Manfred; Paus, Christoph; Pazzini, Jacopo; Penning, Bjorn; Peskin, Michael E.; Pinna, Deborah; Procura, Massimiliano; Qazi, Shamona F.; Racco, Davide; Re, Emanuele; Riotto, Antonio; Rizzo, Thomas G.; Roehrig, Rainer; Salek, David; Sanchez Pineda, Arturo; Sarkar, Subir; Schmidt, Alexander; Schramm, Steven Randolph; Shepherd, William; Singh, Gurpreet; Soffi, Livia; Srimanobhas, Norraphat; Sung, Kevin; Tait, Tim M.P.; Theveneaux-Pelzer, Timothee; Thomas, Marc; Tosi, Mia; Trocino, Daniele; Undleeb, Sonaina; Vichi, Alessandro; Wang, Fuquan; Wang, Lian-Tao; Wang, Ren-Jie; Whallon, Nikola; Worm, Steven; Wu, Mengqing; Wu, Sau Lan; Yang, Hongtao; Yang, Yong; Yu, Shin-Shan; Zaldivar, Bryan; Zanetti, Marco; Zhang, Zhiqing; Zucchetta, Alberto

    2015-01-01

    This document is the final report of the ATLAS-CMS Dark Matter Forum, a forum organized by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations with the participation of experts on theories of Dark Matter, to select a minimal basis set of dark matter simplified models that should support the design of the early LHC Run-2 searches. A prioritized, compact set of benchmark models is proposed, accompanied by studies of the parameter space of these models and a repository of generator implementations. This report also addresses how to apply the Effective Field Theory formalism for collider searches and present the results of such interpretations.

  17. Interpretations of galactic center gamma-ray excess confronting the PandaX-II constraints on dark matter-neutron spin-dependent scatterings in the NMSSM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shang, Liangliang; He, Yangle; Lian, Jingwei; Pan, Yusi

    2018-05-01

    The Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) has been one of the most attractive candidates for Dark Matter (DM), and the lightest neutralino (\\widetilde{χ }^0_1) in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) is an interesting realization of the WIMP framework. The Galactic Center Excess (GCE) indicated from the analysis of the photon data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) in the gamma-ray wavelength ≲ 1 fm, can be explained by WIMP DM annihilations in the sky, as shown in many existing works. In this work we consider an interesting scenario in the Z_3-NMSSM where the singlet S and Singlino \\widetilde{S}^0 components play important roles in the Higgs and DM sector. Guided by our analytical arguments, we perform a sophisticated scan over the NMSSM parameter space by considering various observables such as the Standard Model (SM) Higgs data measured by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and the B-physics observables BR(B_s→ X_sγ ) and BR(B_s→ μ ^+μ ^-). We first collect samples which can explain the GCE well while passing all constraints we consider except for the DM direct detection (DD) bounds from XENON1T and PandaX-II experiments. We analyze the features of these samples suitable for the GCE interpretation and find that \\widetilde{χ }^0_1 DM are mostly Singlino-like and annihilation products are mostly the bottom quark pairs \\bar{b}b through a light singlet-like CP-odd Higgs A_1. Moreover, a good fit to the GCE spectrum generically requires sizable DM annihilation rates 0 in today's Universe. However, the correlation between the coupling C_{A_1 b\\bar{b}} in 0 and the coupling C_{Z \\widetilde{χ }^0_1 \\widetilde{χ }^0_1} in DM-neutron Spin Dependent (SD) scattering rate σ ^{SD}_{\\widetilde{χ }^0_1-N} makes all samples we obtain for GCE explanation get excluded by the PandaX-II results. Although the DM resonant annihilation scenarios may be beyond the reach of our analytical

  18. Dark matter in the Reticulum II dSph: a radio search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Regis, Marco; Richter, Laura; Colafrancesco, Sergio

    2017-07-01

    We present a deep radio search in the Reticulum II dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy performed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Observations were conducted at 16 cm wavelength, with an rms sensitivity of 0.01 mJy/beam, and with the goal of searching for synchrotron emission induced by annihilation or decay of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Data were complemented with observations on large angular scales taken with the KAT-7 telescope. We find no evidence for a diffuse emission from the dSph and we derive competitive bounds on the WIMP properties. In addition, we detect more than 200 new background radio sources. Among them, we show there are two compelling candidates for being the radio counterpart of the possible γ-ray emission reported by other groups using Fermi-LAT data.

  19. Dark matter in the Reticulum II dSph: a radio search

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Regis, Marco; Richter, Laura; Colafrancesco, Sergio

    2017-01-01

    We present a deep radio search in the Reticulum II dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy performed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Observations were conducted at 16 cm wavelength, with an rms sensitivity of 0.01 mJy/beam, and with the goal of searching for synchrotron emission induced by annihilation or decay of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Data were complemented with observations on large angular scales taken with the KAT-7 telescope. We find no evidence for a diffuse emission from the dSph and we derive competitive bounds on the WIMP properties. In addition, we detect more than 200 new background radio sources. Among them, we show there are two compelling candidates for being the radio counterpart of the possible γ-ray emission reported by other groups using Fermi-LAT data.

  20. Compatibility of a dark matter discovery at XENONnT or LZ with the WIMP thermal production mechanism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catena, Riccardo; Conrad, Jan; Krauss, Martin B.

    2018-05-01

    The discovery of dark matter (DM) at XENONnT or LZ would place constraints on DM particle mass and coupling constants. It is interesting to ask when these constraints can be compatible with the DM thermal production mechanism. We address this question within the most general set of renormalizable models that preserve Lorentz and gauge symmetry, and that extend the standard model by one DM candidate of mass mDM and one particle of mass Mmed mediating DM-quark interactions. Our analysis divides into two parts. First, we postulate that XENONnT/LZ has detected μS˜O (100 ) signal events, and use this input to calculate the DM relic density, ΩDMh2. Then, we identify the regions in the Mmed-ΩDMh2 plane which are compatible with the observed signal and with current CMB data. We find that for most of the models considered here, O (100 ) signal events at XENONnT/LZ and the DM thermal production are only compatible for resonant DM annihilations, i.e. for Mmed≃2 mDM. In this case, XENONnT/LZ would be able to simultaneously measure mDM and Mmed. We also discuss the dependence of our results on mDM, μS and the DM spin, and provide analytic expressions for annihilation cross sections and mediator decay widths for all models considered in this study.