Comparing readout strategies to directly detect dark matter

Billard, J.

doi:10.1103/physrevd.91.023513

Cited by 15 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…[43,177] to study the effect of direction-sensitivity on the neutrino floor for experiments with only 1d and 2d recoil track information [189]. Figure 9 shows the discovery limits for a Xenon detector located in the Modane underground lab, operated for one year with a range of detector masses.…”

Section: E Using Directionality To Overcome the Neutrino Floormentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the discovery reach of directional Dark Matter detection

et al. 2016

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Section: E Using Directionality To Overcome the Neutrino Floormentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the discovery reach of directional Dark Matter detection

et al. 2016

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“…(18). Following previous work dedicated to the comparison of different readout strategies in the context of an arbitrary background [52], we consider 6 detector readout strategies:…”

Section: A Detector Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ref. [52]). As the detector mass is increased and the experiment begins to have an appreciable neutrino background a Poisson background subtraction regime is entered and the discovery limit evolves as 1/ √ M .…”

Section: B Comparing Readout Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Readout strategies for directional dark matter detection beyond the neutrino background

et al. 2015

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The search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) by direct detection faces an encroaching background due to coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering. As the sensitivity of these experiments improves, the question of how to best distinguish a dark matter signal from neutrinos will become increasingly important. A proposed method of overcoming this so-called "neutrino floor" is to utilize the directional signature that both neutrino and dark matter induced recoils possess. We show that directional experiments can indeed probe WIMP-nucleon cross-sections below the neutrino floor with little loss in sensitivity due to the neutrino background. In particular we find at low WIMP masses (around 6 GeV) the discovery limits for directional detectors penetrate below the non-directional limit by several orders of magnitude. For high WIMP masses (around 100 GeV), the non-directional limit is overcome by a factor of a few. Furthermore we show that even for directional detectors which can only measure 1-or 2-dimensional projections of the 3-dimensional recoil track, the discovery potential is only reduced by a factor of 3 at most. We also demonstrate that while the experimental limitations of directional detectors, such as sense recognition and finite angular resolution, have a detrimental effect on the discovery limits, it is still possible to overcome the ultimate neutrino background faced by non-directional detectors.PACS numbers: 95.35.+d; 95.85.Pw

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“…an asymmetry along the track which allows the beginning to be distinguished from the end [74]) for recoils in the emulsion, and this has not been observed to date. Furthermore these limitations have been shown in other cases to severely inhibit the discovery reach of an experiment [8,75]. We repeat the analysis of Secs.…”

Section: Non-ideal Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Ref. [75]). In particular, if it turns out that the experiment can be tilted to mimic an equator-based experiment then the lack of the vertical track component would prove to be essentially unimportant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time-integrated directional detection of dark matter

2017

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The analysis of signals in directional dark matter (DM) detectors typically assumes that the directions of nuclear recoils can be measured in the Galactic rest frame. However, this is not possible with all directional detection technologies. In nuclear emulsions, for example, the recoil events must be detected and measured after the exposure time of the experiment. Unless the entire detector is mounted and rotated with the sidereal day, the recoils cannot be reoriented in the Galactic rest frame. We examine the effect of this `time integration' on the primary goals of directional detection, namely: (1) confirming that the recoils are anisotropic; (2) measuring the median recoil direction to confirm their Galactic origin; and (3) probing below the neutrino floor. We show that after time integration the DM recoil distribution retains a preferred direction and is distinct from that of Solar neutrino-induced recoils. Many of the advantages of directional detection are therefore preserved and it is not crucial to mount and rotate the detector. Rejecting isotropic backgrounds requires a factor of 2 more signal events compared with an experiment with event time information, whereas a factor of 1.5-3 more events are needed to measure a median direction in agreement with the expectation for DM. We also find that there is still effectively no neutrino floor in a time-integrated directional experiment. However to reach a cross section an order of magnitude below the floor, a factor of 8 larger exposure is required than with a conventional directional experiment. We also examine how the sensitivity is affected for detectors with only 2D recoil track readout, and/or no head-tail measurement. As for non-time-integrated experiments, 2D readout is not a major disadvantage, though a lack of head-tail sensitivity is.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Version published in PR

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Comparing readout strategies to directly detect dark matter

Cited by 15 publications

References 63 publications

A review of the discovery reach of directional Dark Matter detection

A review of the discovery reach of directional Dark Matter detection

Readout strategies for directional dark matter detection beyond the neutrino background

Time-integrated directional detection of dark matter

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