Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Dark matter directionality approach using ZnWO$_4$ crystal scintillators

  Vincenzo Caracciolo, Volodymyr Yakovych Degoda, Pierluigi Belli, Rita Bernabei, Y. A. Borovlev, Fabio Cappella, Riccardo Cerulli, Fedor A. Danevich, Antonella Incicchitti, Alice Leoncini, Vittorio Merlo, N. Cherubini, Dmytro V. Kasperovych, Y. P. Kogut, G. P. Podust, Oksana G. Polischuk, A. G. Postupaeva, V. N. Shlegel, Volodymyr I. Tretyak

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 021 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The development of low-background anisotropic detectors can offer a unique way to study those Dark Matter (DM) candidate particles able to induce nuclear recoils through the directionality technique. Among the anisotropic scintillators, the ZnWO$_{4}$ has unique features and is an excellent candidate for the purposes. Both the light output and the scintillation pulse shape depend on the impinging direction of heavy particles with respect to the crystallographic axes and can supply two independent modes to study the directionality and discriminate $\gamma/\beta$ radiation. Measurements to study the anisotropic and scintillation performances of ZnWO$_4$ are reported.

• Search for low mass WIMP dark matter with DarkSide-50

  Masato Kimura on behalf of DarkSide-50 Collaboration

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 022 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  DarkSide-50 is a direct dark matter detection experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso that uses argon as the target material. Exploiting the ionization signal from a dual-phase time projection chamber filled with low-radioactivity argon, it has set the most stringent exclusion limit on WIMPs with a mass of few $\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$. A new analysis has recently been carried out with a larger exposure, profiting from an improved understanding of the detector response and background model. An improvement of about a factor 10 in sensitivity is expected for a WIMP mass of 2 GeV/c$^2$.

• The Scintillating Bubble Chamber Experiment

  Ben Broerman

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 023 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) collaboration is combining the well-established liquid argon and bubble chamber technologies to search for low-mass, GeV-scale dark matter. Liquid-noble bubble chambers benefit from the excellent electron-recoil insensitivity inherent in bubble chambers with the addition of energy reconstruction provided from the scintillation signal for background rejection. The projected sensitivity with a quasi-background-free 10-kg-year exposure at a 100 eV nuclear recoil threshold is approximately 10$^{-43}$ cm$^2$ for a 1 GeV/c$^2$ dark matter mass.

• Status and future prospects of the NEWS-G experiment

  P. Knights on behalf of the NEWS-G Collaboration

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 024 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The NEWS-G collaboration is searching for light dark matter using spherical proportional counters. Access to the mass range from 50 MeV to 10 GeV is enabled by the combination of low energy threshold, light gaseous targets (H, He, Ne), and highly radio-pure detector construction. Several of the recent developments that have paved the way for the operation of a new 140 cm in diameter, spherical proportional counter are presented. Constructed and commissioned at LSM using 4N copper with a 500$\mu$xm electroplated inner layer, the detector is now installed in SNOLAB, where it has begun data taking. Building on the electroplating of the current detector, the collaboration construct its next detector directly in the underground laboratory, using ultra-pure copper electroforming. The design and construction of ECUME, a 140 cm in diameter spherical proportional counter fully electroformed underground is discussed, along with the potential to achieve sensitivity reaching the neutrino floor in light Dark Matter searches with a next-generation detector.

• Characterisation of low background CaWO$_4$ crystals for CRESST-III

  A. Kinast, G. Angloher, S. Banik, G. Benato, A. Bento, A. Bertolini, R. Breier, C. Bucci, J. Burkhart, L. Canonica, A. D'Addabbo, S. Di Lorenzo, L. Einfalt, A. Erb, F. v. Feilitzsch, N. Ferreiro Iachellini, S. Fichtinger, D. Fuchs, A. Fuss, A. Garai, V.M. Ghete, S. Gerster, P. Gorla, P.V. Guillaumon, S. Gupta, D. Hauff, M. Ješkovský, J. Jochum, M. Kaznacheeva, H. Kluck, H. Kraus, A. Langenkämper, M. Mancuso, L. Marini, L. Meyer, V. Mokina, A. Nilima, M. Olmi, T. Ortmann, C. Pagliarone, L. Pattavina, F. Petricca, W. Potzel, P. Povinec, F. Pröbst, F. Pucci, F. Reindl, J. Rothe, K. Schäffner, J. Schieck, D. Schmiedmayer, S. Schönert, C. Schwertner, M. Stahlberg, L. Stodolsky, C. Strandhagen, R. Strauss, I. Usherov, F. Wagner, M. Willers, V. Zema (CRESST Collaboration)

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 031 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The CRESST-III experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter particles via their elastic scattering off nuclei in a scintillating CaWO$_4$ target crystal. For many years CaWO$_4$ crystals have successfully been produced in-house at Technische Universität München with a focus on high radiopurity. To further improve the CaWO$_4$ crystals, an extensive chemical purification of the raw materials has been performed and the crystal TUM93 was produced from this powder. We present results from an $\alpha$-decay rate analysis performed on 344 days of data collected in the ongoing CRESST-III data-taking campaign. The $\alpha$-decay rate could significantly be reduced.

• remoTES: A new design for the cryogenic NaI detectors of the COSINUS experiment

  L. Einfalt, G. Angloher, Mukund Raghunath Bharadwaj, I. Dafinei, N. Di Marco, F. Ferroni, S. Fichtinger, A. Filipponi, T. Frank, M. Friedl, A. Fuss, Z. Ge, M. Heikinheimo, K. Huitu, M. Kellermann, R. Maji , M. Mancuso, L. Pagnanini, F. Petricca, S. Pirro, F. Pröbst, G. Profeta, A. Puiu, F. Reindl, K. Schäffner, J. Schieck, D. Schmiedmayer, C. Schwertner, M. Stahlberg, A. Stendahl, M. Stukel , F. Wagner, S. Yue, V. Zema, Y. Zhu

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 033 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The increasing statistical significance of the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation signal is a cause for tension in the field of dark matter direct detection. The COSINUS experiment aims at a model-independent cross-check of the DAMA/LIBRA signal claim, using NaI crystals operated as cryogenic scintillating calorimeters at millikelvin temperatures. Such a setup enables measurement of phonon and scintillation light signals via Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) and allows particle discrimination on an event-by-event basis. The non-standard properties of NaI cause an obstacle when attaching a TES directly onto the surface of the crystal. This can be overcome with the ``remoTES'' design, where the TES is attached to an external wafer crystal. We present the results from a first successful operation of NaI and other crystals as cryogenic calorimeters with the remoTES design.

• Dark matter or millisecond pulsars? A deep learning-based analysis of the Fermi Galactic Centre Excess

  Florian List, Nicholas L. Rodd, Geraint F. Lewis

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 034 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The $\gamma$-ray Galactic Centre Excess (GCE) remains one of the few observed high-energy signals for which a dark matter (DM) origin is a plausible explanation. We present a deep learning-based analysis of the $\gamma$-ray sky in the Galactic Centre region, carefully accounting for the mathematical degeneracy between faint point-sources (PSs) such as millisecond pulsars (MSPs) and DM-like Poisson emission. Using recent models for the Galactic foregrounds, we find that relatively few bright PSs just below Fermi's detection threshold seem unlikely to explain the GCE, although we continue to find evidence for PSs. Looking ahead, further improvements in the modelling of the $\gamma$-ray sky will be crucial for distinguishing between a DM-like and point-like morphology of the signal.

• Constraints on heavy dark matter annihilation and decay from electron and positron cosmic ray spectra

  Holger Motz

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 035 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Annihilation or decay of dark matter (DM) could contribute to the electron and positron cosmic-ray flux, allowing for constraints on DM parameters from its measurement. CALET is directly measuring the energy spectrum of electron+positron cosmic rays up into the TeV region most important for studying heavy DM, while AMS-02 provides a positron-only spectrum below the TeV range. Limits on DM annihilation and decay well into the TeV mass range have been derived from a combined analysis of both data-sets with an astrophysical background model including pulsars as the origin of the positron excess and individual nearby supernova remnant sources.

• Axion-like particle as cold dark matter via the misalignment mechanism with PQ symmetry unbroken during inflation

  Pawel Kozow, Marek Olechowski

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 038 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The QCD axion and axion-like particles (ALPs) are well motivated candidates for Cold Dark Matter (CDM). Such models may be divided into two classes depending on whether the associated Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is broken or not during inflation. The latter case is usually considered to be quite simple with relic density depending only on the corresponding decay constant and with no constraints from the known bounds on isocurvature perturbations. We will show that the situation is much more complicated. We will discuss conditions which should be fulfilled by ALP models with U(1) unbroken during inflation to be phenomenologically interesting.

• Approaching the first any light particle search II science run

  Aaron D. Spector for the ALPS Collaboration

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 039 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Any Light Particle Search II (ALPS II) is a light-shining-through-a-wall (LSW) experiment based at DESY in Hamburg, Germany, that will search for axions and axion-like particles down to the coupling of the axion to two photons of $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$ >2$\times10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for masses below 0.1 meV. ALPS II will use two strings of superconducting dipole magnets that are over one hundred meters in length, as well as optical cavities before and after the wall to boost the effective signal rate of the regenerated photons by more than 12 orders of magnitude when compared to previous generations of LSW experiments. Data taking with a simplified optical system is expected to begin in early 2023.