Light dark matter searches and CEνNS experiments require thresholds of a few eVs, which pose the crucial challenge of calibrating such low energies. In this poster we present the status of the CRACK project, which develops an innovative method to calibrate cryogenic detectors in the range of eV without adding any permanent background to the experiments. It is based on a miniaturized...
Skipper-CCDs serve as ultra-low energy threshold detectors increasingly used for rare event searches. Exploring their potential for operation in space to detect electron recoils from strongly interacting sub-GeV dark matter and X-ray signatures of dark matter annihilation or decay raises novel challenges. In this work, we present advancements in the design of Skipper-CCD sensors tailored for...
In recent years, significant strides have been made in direct dark matter detection experiments, driven by advancements in detector technologies and the scaling up of detector sizes, predominantly motivated by the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) paradigm. In the realm of dark matter (DM) scattering processes, understanding the contributions from electronic and nuclear degrees of...
The Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers (CRESST) is one of the most sensitive experiments for the direct detection of light dark matter via nuclear recoils. At low recoil energies below roughly 200eV, the sensitivity is affected by the presence of an increasing event rate for which dark matter as a major contribution has already been ruled out. Such a low energy...
Atom interferometers are a new class of quantum sensors capable of making precision measurements in many areas of fundamental physics including gravitational wave and ultra-light dark matter (ULDM) searches. While the sensitivity of atom interferometers to scalar ULDM has been established [arXiv: 1911.11755; arXiv: 2308.10731], spin-2 ULDM models are also well motivated but have yet to be...
Modern bubble chambers offer a unique opportunity to probe the dark matter parameter space through the use of superheated C3F8 as the target material. PICO-500 is the next generation of bubble chamber detector made by the PICO collaboration. It will be located at the underground research facility SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada. Backed by the operational experience of previous...
The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment set world-leading limits for spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interactions above 10 GeV/$c^2$, with its first science run results released in 2022. Background characterisation and a complete understanding of the detector and internal conditions is vital to achieve and improve upon such limits; in the chance of discovery, these are a necessity to provide a foundation...
High-frequency gravitational wave (GW) detection based on a cryogenic bulk acoustic wave (BAW) cavity coupled to a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) has been under investigation at the University of Western Australia for several years. A recent paper reported the observation of rare events of uncertain origin using the first antenna of this type. In this report, we describe...
One of the most challenging open problems in physics is the direct detection of dark matter candidates. Several low-background underground experiments are currently involved in the search of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) employing noble liquids like xenon or argon that have very good scintillation properties. High-performance single-photon detectors are required to acquire the...
Dark Matter (DM) existence is a milestone of the cosmological standard model and, yet, its very nature discovery still remains a mystery. In this talk, I discuss a new way to probe properties of light-particle dark matter candidates which exploits the nature of the cosmic-ray (CR) transport inside starburst nuclei (SBNs). Indeed, SBNs are considered CR reservoirs, trapping them for ∼10^5 years...
In this talk I will show how an ultra light dark matter background affects the electron g-2 value. The effect comes from an enhancement in the triangle diagram due to the high occupancy number of a boson field with a very low mass. The results are immediately used to put strong constraints on axion-electron couplings and dark photon kinetic mixing parameters, for masses below $10^{-15}$ eV.
The Cryogenic Observatory for Signals seen in Next generation Underground Searches (COSINUS) is a direct dark matter search that utilizes sodium iodide (NaI) crystals as cryogenic calorimeters. Its primary objective is to provide a model-independent cross-check of the signal observed by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment. The cryogenic calorimeters will be operated in a dry dilution refrigerator...
Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) is widely considered as the standard model of the Big Bang cosmology that contains a postulated new particle called dark matter (DM), which makes up for 85% of the matter of the universe. However, DM has yet to be detected non gravitationally. One of the major ways of probing it is through direct detection experiments measuring the cross section of dark matter...
The Recoil Directionality (ReD) project, within the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration, aims to characterize the response of an argon double-phase Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) to low energy neutron-induced nuclear recoils (NR). Signals collected by Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) in the LAr TPC are the prompt scintillation light in liquid (S1) and the delayed electroluminescence (S2)...
We explore the effect of the interatomic interactions in the condensed phases of xenon on the dark matter-electron scattering process, with a focus on applications in liquid xenon detectors. We calculate the electronic structure of atomic, liquid and solid Xe using first-principles density functional theory (DFT), then compute material response functions for the dark matter-electron...
DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) is a direct detection dark matter experiment and currently under construction at LNGS. It involves a total of ~100 t of low radioactivity argon from an underground source (UAr) in its inner detector, half of which serves as target in a dual-phase (liquid/gas) time projection chamber (TPC).
The cryogenics system for the UAr must provide the cooling necessary to fill the...
Ultralight dark matter (ULDM) is one of the most promising DM candidates. Because of the Bose enhancement, we find the annihilation rate of ULDM in the presence of background photon radiation can be greatly enhanced and produce a distinctive reflected electromagnetic wave with an angular frequency equal to the ULDM mass. We propose to utilize such stimulated annihilation to probe the ULDM with...
The SuperCDMS-HVeV program has previously demonstrated competitive
sensitivities to electron-recoil [1] and nuclear-recoil [2] dark matter in the sub-
GeV mass range using voltage biased silicon crystals equipped with TES calorime-
ters. HVeV detectors have achieved excellent energy resolution through the
application of an electric field to the crystal that enables amplification via...
The CRESST experiment utilises advanced cryogenic detectors constructed with different types of crystals equipped with Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) to measure signals of nuclear recoils induced by the scattering of dark matter particles in the detector.
In recent times, the sensitivity of low-mass direct dark matter searches has been limited by unknown low energy backgrounds close to the...
Dual-phase noble liquid time projection chambers (TPCs) are at the forefront of direct dark matter detection experiments. Their functionality hinges on a meticulously designed homogeneous electric field structure defined by electrodes, material properties, and the relative permittivities of gas and liquid. These fields impact recombination processes within the target liquid (e.g xenon) and...
Analysis of atomic experiments related to the distribution of the linear momentum in the ground state of hydrogen atoms revealed a huge discrepancy: the ratio of the experimental and previous theoretical results was up to tens of thousands. This motivated a theoretical study resulting in the following discovery: for the states of zero angular momentum (S-states), the so-called “singular”...
The DAREDEVIL (DARk-mattEr-DEVIces-for-Low-energy-detection) is a new project aiming to
develop a novel class of detectors to study Dark Matter candidates with mass below 1 Gev/c^2. The
detection channel is DM-electron scattering, where the excitation energies of the electrons should
be matched to the transferred momenta. The only materials with energy gaps of eV or below are
special...
This study investigates the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) to dark matter (DM) annihilation in γ-ray lines. We focus on observations of the Galactic Center (GC), dwarf Spheroidal galaxies (dSphs), and galaxy clusters (GCls). Specifically, we compare the reach of the GC with that of dSphs, considering the poorly known putative core...
Early findings from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) defied the predictions of the 𝚲CDM model of cosmology. The major concern was the large overabundance of very massive, very high-redshift galaxies and quasars, at which time the universe was only a few hundred million years old. There are two major models for the nature of the first stars in the universe: Population III stars and...
In this talk, I will present the characterisation results of an ultra-pure NaI(Tl) test crystal for the SABRE South experiment, using background counting and mass spectrometry techniques. I will describe the characterisation methods, including a detailed analysis on $^{238}$U and $^{232}$Th activities using a likelihood fit to the time distributions of $^{214}$Bi – $^{214}$Po, and $^{212}$Bi –...
The SuperCDMS experiment uses semiconductor crystal detectors operated at cryogenic temperatures to search for low-mass dark matter. Vibrations observed during the SuperCDMS Soudan experiment generated broadband low-frequency (LF) noise, which due to its similarity in the pulse shape to the low-energy signal events are difficult to remove at low-energies. In the final low ionization threshold...
A distinctive cosmological dynamics of a sub-component dark matter will be discussed. The thermal evolution of the sub-component is significantly affected by the sizable self-scattering and the required annihilation cross section of the sub-component sharply increases as we consider a smaller relative abundance fraction among the dark-matter species. Therefore, contrary to a naive expectation,...
Electronic recoil signals are the main observables in direct searches of light dark matter (LDM) and detection of low energy neutrinos. In the energy deposition range of 10 (80) eV to 1 keV for xenon (germanium) detectors, the atomic effects are known to be important. In this talk, I will present a database of response functions for LDM-ionized xenon and germanium, based on relativistic random...
In the field of directional dark matter experiments, SF₆ has emerged as an ideal target gas. A critical challenge with this gas, and with other proposed gases, is the effective removal of contaminant gases. This includes radon which produces unwanted background events, but also common pollutants such as water, oxygen, and nitrogen, which can capture ionisation electrons, resulting in loss of...
COSINUS (Cryogenic Observatory for SIgnals seen in Next generation Underground Searches) operates sodium iodide (NaI) as cryogenic scintillating calorimeter using transition edge sensors (TES) at temperatures around 15 mK. TES are commonly used in cryogenic calorimeters for their excellent energy resolution. However, due to the various manufacturing steps involved, the choice of absorbers does...
Time projection chambers (TPC) operating with a negative ion gas have the potential to be used in directional dark matter searches. The proof of concept detector, NIGHT, is a TPC with a GridPix readout, which in turn consists of a Timepix ASIC with an integrated amplification stage called InGrid. It has an active area of 1.4cmx1.4cm and a drift length of 3cm.
The detector will be operated...
Dark matter (DM) particles can get captured inside the Sun due to DM-electron interaction. As the number of these captured DM particles increases, they can annihilate and produce different Standard Model (SM) final states. Neutrinos and anti-neutrinos produced from these final states can escape the Sun and reach ground-based neutrino telescopes. The latest data-sets from IceCube and DeepCore...
We investigate the possibility of saturating the relic density bound with light higgsinos. When the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model is extended with right-handed neutrino superfields and the seesaw scale is very low, right sneutrinos can be produced via the freeze-in mechanism. In such a case we can have essentially two independent sources for dark matter, the traditional freeze-out of...
Models of inelastic (or pseudo-Dirac) dark matter commonly assume an accidental symmetry between the left-handed and right-handed mass terms in order to suppress diagonal couplings. Here we point out that this symmetry is unnecessary, because for Majorana fermions the diagonal couplings are in fact not strongly constrained. Removing the requirement of such an accidental symmetry in fact...
In this talk, we will present our numerical simulation results of 3D recoil distributions of coherent elastic Solar B-8 neutrino-nucleus scattering events, which could be observed by future directional direct Dark Matter detectors. These results are achieved by our 3D Monte Carlo scattering-by-scattering simulation package, built originally for 3D elastic WIMP-nucleus scattering events....
Flamedisx provides a unique method of calculating likelihoods for rare event searches in liquid xenon time-projection chambers, like LUX-ZEPLIN, without the need for exhaustive monte-carlo simulations. Rather than random sampling of underlying parameters, flamedisx evaluates the range of possible parameters that could have significantly contributed to an observed event allowing for faster...
CYGNO is an international collaboration working on the development of a directional detector whose main goal is the direct detection of rare events, such as Dark Matter (DM) in the mass range below few tens of GeV/c2, by means of a gaseous detector. It exploits the expected directional anisotropy of the DM candidates by measuring the orientation of the track, in addition to the energy released...
The experimental search for WIMP-like dark matter remains inconclusive.
As these experiments grow in size and more of the available parameter space is investigated and excluded, it is necessary to plan ahead to circumvent the looming neutrino fog, which constitutes a near-irreducible background for an experiment sensitive to only recoil energy.
The direction of the incoming flux of dark...
The Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers (CRESST) experiment aims for the direct detection of dark matter. A low energy threshold and a high resolution at low energies are critical for exploring parameter space in the current low-mass DM search. Together with hardware modifications, a new strategy based on the optimum filter method, which optimises the signal-to-noise...
Neutron stars provide ideal astrophysical laboratories for probing new physics beyond the Standard Model. If axions exist, photons can develop linear polarization during photon-axion conversion in the magnetic field of a neutron star. We find that the plasma in the neutron star magnetosphere could dramatically enhance the polarization through the resonant conversion effect. With the...
A steady production of positrons in the Milky Way is evidenced by the long-standing observations of a diffuse $511$ keV $\gamma$ ray line from electron-positron annihilation. One consideration that is usually ignored is that the interaction of positrons with the interstellar medium produces not only a line, but also a continuum emission (so called) in-flight positron annihilation.
We use, for...
The quest to understand dark matter (DM) continues to be a driving force in astrophysics and particle physics. This talk discusses the potential of the RES-NOVA project, envisioned for detecting astrophysical neutrinos via Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE$\nu$NS), to also serve as a DM observatory. Leveraging the array of cryogenic detectors made from archaeological Pb, known...
In this presentation, we introduce PRyMordial: a specialized tool designed for efficient computations of observables in the Early Universe, specifically focusing on the cosmological epoch of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). We will succinctly outline the key features of the package, emphasizing its ability to rapidly and accurately evaluate BBN light-element abundances alongside the effective...
A detection scheme is explored for light dark matter, such as axion dark matter or dark photon dark matter, using a Paul ion trap system. We first demonstrate that a qubit, constructed from the ground and first excited states of vibrational modes of ions in a Paul trap, can serve as an effective sensor for weak electric fields due to its resonant excitation. As a consequence, a Paul ion trap...
Main contribution:
This work aims to identify a signal from dark matter among gamma-ray sources detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope using machine learning techniques.
For the first time, we write the full likelihood for a model of the unassociated gamma-ray sources, including a model for extragalactic as well as galactic gamma-ray sources and dark matter annihilating through...
Extensions to the Standard Model often introduce new bosons that can mediate exotic spin-dependent interactions. The hypothetical bosons, including axions, majorons, dark photon, Z’ bosons etc., may be candidates for dark matter particles. Searching for such spin-dependent interactions can extract important information about the bosons, such as mass and coupling strength with the Standard...
Spin-dependent exotic interactions may occur between two fermions through exchanging of hypothetical bosons, such as axions, Majorons, familons, Z’ bosons, some of which may be candidates for dark matter particles. These interactions can be measured at the tabletop scale with high precision experiments, providing indirect experimental information about the mediators. Here, we report an...
Neutron stars can host strong electromagnetic fields deep in their magnetospheres capable of sourcing axions. Low mass axions are produced relativistically and can resonantly convert into radio photons as they escape the magnetosphere. For heavier axions an increasing fraction will instead end up populating a dense cloud of bound states around the parent neutron star. In this talk I will...
Models of Sub-GeV dark matter coupled to a dark photon with kinetic mixing feature a rich phenomenology. They are thus constrained by a number of laboratory, astrophysical and cosmological observations. The biggest obstacle for fermionic DM particles to make up all of the observed DM comes from the strong constraints placed by the CMB and X-ray emission on DM annihilation. This can be overcome...
Rare event searches, such as those targeting dark matter interactions and neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), face challenges from gamma-rays originating in rock, contributing to electron recoil background. This report presents a dual investigation: measurements of natural radioactivity in rock samples from Boulby Mine and a simulation assessing shielding thickness for a future detector....
DarkSide-20k is a dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr-TPC) detector for the direct detection of dark matter (DM) particles that is under construction in Hall C of the Laboratori Nazionali Del Gran Sasso (Italy).
Light detection represents a critical and challenging aspect of this detector. The light collection is based on the novel FBK NUV-HD Cryo silicon photomultiplier...
BULLKID-DM is a novel experiment to search for WIMP-like dark matter with mass around 1 GeV/c^2.
The detector consists of an array of silicon targets sensed by multiplexed Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs).
The detection principle consists in sensing athermal phonons produced in the crystal by particle interactions.
BULLKID-DM will deploy 600 g of active silicon target, segmented in...
Theories beyond the Standard Model usually predict the existence of new particles and interactions. Assuming that there are new bosons with spin of 0 or spin of 1, the exchange of these bosons can give rise to sixteen types of interactions. Here we present the experimental progress in the detection of one of them, the spin- and velocity-dependent interaction, at the micrometer range using a...
Previous studies have shown the effect of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) on the local speed distribution of the dark matter particles. Since it dominates the high speed tail of the distribution and the gravitational interaction also boosts the solar neighbourhood dark matter particles to higher velocities, such an effect has an impact on direct detection searches. In this talk, I will...
Understanding the dark matter distribution within a few kpc of the galactic center of the Milky Way is essential in estimating the dark matter content of the galaxy for indirect detection experiments, as well as understanding the particle nature of dark matter through the density profile in the Milky Way’s core. Although it is difficult to accurately measure the inner stellar distribution in...
We propose a topological portal between quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and a dark QCD-like sector. Such a portal is present only for a unique coset structure after QCD confinement and it connects three QCD to two dark pions. When gauged, it is the leading portal between the two sectors, providing an elegant self-consistent scenario of light thermal inelastic dark matter. The inherent...
Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) are well-motivated dark matter candidates which are collectively referred to as ALPs. The Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiments (CASPEr) [1] is an international research program searching for ALPs using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. CASPEr-gradient low-field in Mainz probes the hypothetical coupling of the gradient of the ALP field to...
Prompt emissions from TeV blazars pair produce on the extragalactic background light and the resulting electrons and positrons then undergo inverse Compton scattering, giving rise to secondary gamma-rays. The non-observation of such reprocessed emission implies a suppression of cascades from TeV blazars. In addition to the deflection of the electron-positron pairs off the line of sight by the...
The direct dark matter experiment XENONnT utilizes a dual-phase TPC with an active target of approximately 5.9 t of liquid xenon.
To optimize the detection of scintillation light, the TPC is enclosed by PTFE panels refined with a diamond-tip process.
These panels, in direct contact with the liquid xenon, can introduce a radiation background due to the long-lived Pb210 contaminant, which...
