New class of biological detectors for WIMPs

Abstract

Abstract:Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) may constitute a large fraction of the matter in the Universe. There are excess events in the data of DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT, CRESST-II, and recently CDMS-Si, which could be consistent with WIMP masses of approximately 10 GeV/c 2 . However, for M DM > 10 GeV/c 2 null results of the CDMS-Ge, XENON, and LUX detectors may be in tension with the potential detections for certain dark matter scenarios and assuming a certain light response.We propose the use of a new class of biological dark matter (DM) detectors to further examine this light dark matter hypothesis, taking advantage of new signatures with low atomic number targets, Two types of biological DM detectors are discussed here: DNA-based detectors and enzymatic reactions (ER) based detectors. In the case of DNA-based detectors, we discuss a new implementation. In the case of ER detectors, there are four crucial phases of the detection process: a) change of state due to energy deposited by a particle; b) amplification due to the release of energy derived from the action of an enzyme on its substrate; c) sustainable but non-explosive enzymatic reaction; d) self-termination due to the denaturation of the enzyme, when the temperature is raised. This paper provides information of how to design as well as optimize these four processes. 1) INTRODUCTION In the mid 20th century, new classes of particle/radiation detectors were introduced about every 5 years. The last new classes of detectors were introduced about 30 and 25 years ago, namely cryogenic particle detectors and liquid noble gas detectors, respectively. Yet there are needs of physics and biology which require new classes of detectors with nano-metric spatial resolution e.g. detection of Dark Matter (DM) candidates and detectors for massspectroscopy.The first generation of particle/radiation detectors consisted of photographic emulsions and gas detectors. The majority of modern particle detectors are liquids and solid-state detectors. All of these detectors have, as output, either photons or electrons, which are easy to count with modern photonics and/or electronics.We propose a new class of detectors, which use thermal processes or molecular transformations to detect particle interaction effect(s). One of the byproducts of the development of molecular biology and nanotechnology is that we now understand and can engineer material properties at a scale of a few nanometers. This includes better understanding of heat propagation processes at the nanoscale. We can produce a wide variety of nano-size objects and order them spatially. It becomes possible to manipulate the flow of heat just as we manipulate the flow of 1 electrons in solid-state devices. In a sense, the development of Superheated Superconducting Colloid [26] and other cryogenic bolometers [18,19,24] were a first step in this direction. However, they operate at cryogenic temperatures, which facilitate thermal engineering but make their implementation and operation more difficult. In this paper, we pr...

A review of the discovery reach of directional Dark Matter detection

“…Hence, it constitutes an extension of direction-insensitive direct detection, for which only the energy is measured. Several directional detection strategies have been proposed: low pressure gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], nuclear emulsions [30,31], columnar recombination in high-pressure gaseous Xenon TPCs [32][33][34], solid-state detectors [35][36][37], DNA-based detectors [38], graphene-based heterostructures [39] and polarized detectors [40]. Not all techniques are equally mature.…”

Status of dark matter in the universe

“…10). We proposed 76 to use nanometer thin sheets of gold (or other material) with ∼10 60 strands of DNA attached. When a WIMP hits the gold sheet, it knocks a gold atom forward into the DNA.…”

Preface

“…On the other hand, considering that the luminous Universe -which accounts just for less than 1% of the Universe density -is so rich of different particles, it is reasonable to expect that the DM -which is instead about 26% of itcould also be accounted by more than a single type of DM particles. In particular, a new experiment to search for the presence of axion candidates is presented in Preface the paper by T. M. Shokair et al 4 A new project, aiming a very deep subtraction of the electromagnetic component of the counting rate assuming the case of DM particles inducing just nuclear recoils, is discussed in the paper by R. Bertoni et al 5 The possible developments of new detector technologies are discussed in the two following papers by A. K. Drukier et al, 6,7 which potentially offer the possibility to exploit the directionality approach for the class of DM candidates considered there and, in every case, the development of totally new technologies.…”