Autumn Institute 2019: Directional Sub-GeV Dark Matter Detection

17 Sept 2019, 10:00 → 18 Sept 2019, 18:00 Europe/Rome

INFN-LNF, Aula Salvini

María Benito (IFT-UNESP/ICTP-SAIFR), Enrico Nardi (LNF)

Aim of the meeting:

This informal meeting is intended for extensive discussions on directional signals for sub-GeV dark matter particles detection via scattering off electrons.

Seminars:

 

Tuesday 17/09 11:00am:      Elisabetta Baracchini (GSSI,  L'Aquila)
"Overview of the International CYGNUS Collaboration Project and of the Italian CYGNO/INITIUM Effort"

Tuesday 17/09 14:30pm:     Christopher McCabe  (King's College,  London)
"Overview of the Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter" 

Wednesday 18/09 11:00am:      Ciaran A. J. O'Hare (Zaragoza U., Zaragoza)
"An Introduction to Directional Detection" 

Wednesday 18/09 14:30pm:     Timon Emken (Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg)
"How Scatterings affect the Dark Matter Velocity Distribution in the Laboratory"                               

 

Tuesday 17 September

11:00 → 12:00 Overview of the International CYGNUS Collaboration Project and of the Italian CYGNO/INITIUM Effort

We are going to discuss the physics reach and the experimental challenges of directional WIMP-like Dark Matter searches, illustrating the concept of the CYGNUS-TPC international collaboration and how the CYGNO effort fits into it. We are going to present the latest R&D results in the field and discuss future short and long term developments of such techniques, also in the context of solar Neutrinos measurements.

Speaker: Elisabetta Baracchini (GSSI)

Baracchini_CYGNO_sub-GEV_LNF_2019_v2.pdf

14:30 → 15:30 Overview of the Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter

I’ll give an overview of the process of dark matter scattering on electrons, which allows direct detection experiments to probe below the GeV scale. In particular, I’ll review the theory framework's currently in use in the literature and highlight areas where progress is still needed.

Speaker: Christopher McCabe (King's College London)

McCabe_lightDM.pdf

Wednesday 18 September

11:00 → 12:00 An Introduction to Directional Detection

I will give an overview of the physics case and feasibility of directionally detecting WIMP-like dark matter via nuclear recoils. I will introduce and discuss the state of the literature that motivates the field, and mention ongoing work to realise a large-scale directional detector with the ability to discover dark matter below the neutrino floor.

Speaker: Ciaran A. J. O'Hare (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain)

14:30 → 15:30 How Scatterings affect the Dark Matter Velocity Distribution in the Laboratory

Direct detection experiments are looking for rare interactions between dark matter (DM) particles from the galactic halo and atoms of a detector. For larger cross sections, such scatterings can also occur before the DM particle enters the laboratory. I will discuss the phenomenological implications of “pre-detection” scatterings inside the Earth and Sun, and how they can both extend and reduce the sensitivity of terrestrial DM searches.

Speaker: Timon Emken

201909_Frascati_Emken.pdf