Prototype Direction-Sensitive Solid-State Detector for Dark Matter

Martoff, C. J.; Garzarella, Anthony; Getaneh, Misganaw; Kaczanowicz, E.; Neuhauser, B.; Snowden‐Ifft, D.; Wang, X. X.; Zhang, Y.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.76.4882

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…It has been difficult to build WIMP detectors sensitive to the direction of the nuclear recoils. However, a recent promising development is the DRIFT detector [41]. The DRIFT detector consists of a negative ion time projection chamber, the gas in the chamber serving both as WIMP target and as ionization medium for observing the nuclear recoil tracks.…”

Section: Directional Detection Of Wimpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detectability of weakly interacting massive particles in the Sagittarius dwarf tidal stream

2005

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Tidal streams of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr) may be showering dark matter onto the solar system and contributing ∼(0.3-23)% of the local density of our Galactic Halo. If the Sagittarius galaxy contains WIMP dark matter, the extra contribution from the stream gives rise to a step-like feature in the energy recoil spectrum in direct dark matter detection. For our best estimate of stream velocity (300 km/sec) and direction (the plane containing the Sgr dwarf and its debris), the count rate is maximum on June 28 and minimum on December 27 (for most recoil energies), and the location of the step oscillates yearly with a phase opposite to that of the count rate. In the CDMS experiment, for 60 GeV WIMPs, the location of the step oscillates between 35 and 42 keV, and for the most favorable stream density, the stream should be detectable at the 11σ level in four years of data with 10 keV energy bins. Planned large detectors like XENON, CryoArray and the directional detector DRIFT may also be able to identify the Sgr stream.Recently, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) surveys [1,2] have traced the tidal stream of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Sgr) more than 360 • around the sky. It is believed that this tidal stream is currently moving through the solar neighborhood, and that it contains dark matter in addition to stars. In this paper we investigate the possibility of detecting WIMP dark matter in this stream via direct detection experiments.The Sagittarius galaxy, a dwarf spheroidal galaxy of roughly 10 9 M ⊙ , is a satellite of our own much larger Milky Way Galaxy, located inside the Milky Way, ∼15 kpc behind the Galactic Center and ∼6 kpc below the Galactic Plane [3]. There are two streams of matter that extend outwards from the main body of the Sgr galaxy. These streams, known as the leading and trailing tidal tails, are made of matter tidally pulled away from the Sgr galaxy. The leading tail may be showering matter down upon the solar system [2]. The flow is in the general direction orthogonal to the Galactic plane and has a speed of roughly 300 km/s (see discussion in §2 below). This speed is comparable to that of the relative speed of the Sun and the WIMPs in the general dark halo. Hence one can hope to detect the stream in direct detection experiments.The detectability depends on the density of dark matter in the stream. The mass-to-light ratio M/L in the stream is unknown, but is plausibly at least as large as that in the Sgr main body; in fact, the M/L in the stream may be significantly larger because the dark matter on the outskirts of the main body would be tidally stripped before the (more centrally located) stars. Various determinations of the M/L for the Sgr main body give values in the range 25 to 100 (see the discussion in [2] and references therein). With our assumptions, we find a density of dark matter in the stream in the range 0.3 to 23% of the local dark halo density. If the dwarf does not contain dark matter or the stream does not pass thr...

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Section: Directional Detection Of Wimpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detectability of weakly interacting massive particles in the Sagittarius dwarf tidal stream

2005

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“…The high energy neutron flux for a 239 PuBe source diminishes with age as more and more carbon atoms are generated by the (α,n) reaction (Martoff et al, 1996). On the other hand, activity of the source can increase if some of the daughter products of decay are also alpha emitters.…”

Section: The Pube Sourcementioning

confidence: 99%

A portable shield for a neutron howitzer used for instructional and research purposes

Ali

Laherty

Laprade

et al. 2015

Applied Radiation and Isotopes

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“…From the range-energy discussion in the previous section, we infer that track lengths of typical Dark Matter recoils will be only of the order of 0.1 µm in condensed matter, while track lengths of up to a few millimeters are expected in gas at a tenth of the atmospheric pressure. Several techniques relevant to direction-sensitive detection using condensed matter targets have been reported, including track-etch analysis of ancient mica [43], bolometric detection of surface sputtered atoms [44], and use of nuclear emulsions [45]. The ancient mica etch pit technique was actually used to obtain Dark Matter limits.…”

Section: Detector Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Gaseous dark matter detectors

Sciolla

Martoff

2009

New J. Phys.

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Dark Matter detectors with directional sensitivity have the potential of yielding an unambiguous positive observation of WIMPs as well as discriminating between galactic Dark Matter halo models. In this article, we introduce the motivation for directional detectors, discuss the experimental techniques that make directional detection possible, and review the status of the experimental effort in this field.

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Prototype Direction-Sensitive Solid-State Detector for Dark Matter

Cited by 18 publications

References 17 publications

Detectability of weakly interacting massive particles in the Sagittarius dwarf tidal stream

Detectability of weakly interacting massive particles in the Sagittarius dwarf tidal stream

A portable shield for a neutron howitzer used for instructional and research purposes

Gaseous dark matter detectors

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