The Oscura Experiment

Aguilar-Arevalo, A. A.; Bessia, Fabricio Alcalde; Avalos, Nicolás; Baxter, Daniel; Bertou, X.; Bonifazi, C.; Botti, Ana Martina; Cababie, Mariano; Cancelo, Gustavo; Cervantes-Vergara, Brenda Aurea; Castello-Mor, Nuria; Chavarría, Á.; Chavez, Claudio; Chierchie, Fernando; Egea, Juan Manuel De; D`Olivo, Juan Carlos; Dreyer, Cyrus E.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Essig, Rouven; Estrada, J.; Estrada, Enrique; Etzion, E.; Fernandez-Moroni, Guillermo; Fernández-Serra, Mariví; Holland, Steve; Barreda, Agustin Lantero; Lathrop, A.; Lipovetzky, J.; Loer, B.; Villalpando, Edgar Marrufo; Molina, Jorge; Pérez, Santiago; Privitera, P.; Rodrigues, Dário B.; Saldanha, R.; Cruz, Danielle Keylla Alencar; Singal, Aman; Saffold, N.; Stefanazzi, Leandro; Sofo-Haro, Miguel; Tiffenberg, J.; Torres, Christian; Uemura, Sho; Vilar, R.

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2202.10518

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…We find that DarkSPHERE has the potential to significantly improve upon existing constraints under both the single and double electron threshold scenarios. DarkSPHERE is also able to probe the light DM benchmark models over a significant region of parameter space and complements other experimental proposals (e.g., [26,[148][149][150]) by probing similar parameter space but with a different target medium and technology.…”

Section: B Electron Ionisation From Dm Scatteringmentioning

confidence: 84%

DarkSPHERE: Exploring light dark matter with a spherical proportional counter electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory

Balogh,

Beaufort,

Chapellier

et al. 2023

Preprint

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We present the conceptual design and the physics potential of DarkSPHERE, a proposed 3 m in diameter spherical proportional counter electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. This effort builds on the R&D performed and experience acquired by the NEWS-G Collaboration. DarkSPHERE is primarily designed to search for nuclear recoils from light dark matter in the 0.05-10 GeV mass range. Electroforming the spherical shell and the implementation of a shield based on pure water ensures a background level below 0.01 dru. These, combined with the proposed helium-isobutane gas mixture, will provide sensitivity to the spin-independent nucleon cross-section of 2 × 10 −41 (2 × 10 −43 ) cm 2 for a dark matter mass of 0.1 (1) GeV. The use of a hydrogen-rich gas mixture with a natural abundance of 13 C provides sensitivity to spin-dependent nucleon cross-sections more than two orders of magnitude below existing constraints for dark matter lighter than 1 GeV. The characteristics of the detector also make it suitable for searches of other dark matter signatures, including scattering of MeV-scale dark matter with electrons, and superheavy dark matter with masses around the Planck scale that leave extended ionisation tracks in the detector.

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Section: B Electron Ionisation From Dm Scatteringmentioning

confidence: 84%

DarkSPHERE: Exploring light dark matter with a spherical proportional counter electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory

Balogh,

Beaufort,

Chapellier

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…In the same direction, the Observatory of Skipper CCDs Unveiling Recoiling Atoms (OSCURA experiment) is planning to combine the efforts of ongoing experiments to design and build the largest experiment with 10 kg of sensitive silicon mass and around 24,000 readout channels for dark matter detection based on Skipper-CCD [16]. The OS-CURA detector is in the research and development stage, and in this paper, we present the experimental results of the multiplexed readout electronics designed for OSCURA.…”

Section: Skipper Ccd and Lta Electronicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The OSCURA (Observatory of Skipper CCDs Unveiling Recoiling Atoms) [16] experiment is in its research and development stage for the development of a 10 kg Skipper-CCD experiment for low-mass dark matter (DM) search-specifically for DM particle candidates with masses below GeV ("sub-GeV DM"). The expected signal is induced by one or two ionized electrons released by the DM candidate interacting directly with the electrons in the Skipper-CCD detector.…”

Section: Oscura Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiplexed Readout for an Experiment with a Large Number of Channels Using Single-Electron Sensitivity Skipper-CCDs

Chavez

Chierchie

Sofo-Haro

et al. 2022

Sensors

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This paper presents the implementation of a multiplexed analog readout electronics system that can achieve single-electron counting using Skipper-CCDs with non-destructive readout. The proposed system allows the best performance of the sensors to be maintained, with sub-electron noise-level operation, while maintaining low-bandwidth data transfer, a minimum number of analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and low disk storage requirement with zero added multiplexing time, even for the simultaneous operation of thousands of channels. These features are possible with a combination of analog charge pile-up, sample and hold circuits and analog multiplexing. The implementation also aims to use the minimum number of components in circuits to keep compatibility with high-channel-density experiments using Skipper-CCDs for low-threshold particle detection applications. Performance details and experimental results using a sensor with 16 output stages are presented along with a review of the circuit design considerations.

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“…An accurate estimate of low-energy backgrounds from Compton scattering of radiogenic γ rays is important for DAMIC-M and other future direct detection experiments with energy thresholds of ∼10 eV [7,[48][49][50]. The Monte Carlo packages used by these experiments, e.g., GEANT4 [29] and MCNP [51], employ the RIA model to simulate Compton scattering (see Sec.…”

Section: Comparison With Theoretical Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precision measurement of Compton scattering in silicon with a skipper CCD for dark matter detection

Norcini¹,

Castelló-Mor²,

Baxter³

et al. 2022

Phys. Rev. D

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Experiments aiming to directly detect dark matter through particle recoils can achieve energy thresholds of O(10 eV). In this regime, ionization signals from small-angle Compton scatters of environmental γ rays constitute a significant background. Monte Carlo simulations used to build background models have not been experimentally validated at these low energies. We report a precision measurement of Compton scattering on silicon atomic shell electrons down to 23 eV. A skipper charge-coupled device with single-electron resolution, developed for the DAMIC-M experiment, was exposed to a 241Am γ-ray source over several months. Features associated with the silicon K-, L1-, and L2,3-shells are clearly identified, and scattering on valence electrons is detected for the first time below 100 eV. We find that the relativistic impulse approximation for Compton scattering, which is implemented in Monte Carlo simulations commonly used by direct detection experiments, does not reproduce the measured spectrum below 0.5 keV. The data are in better agreement with ab initio calculations originally developed for x-ray absorption spectroscopy.

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The Oscura Experiment

Cited by 10 publications

References 65 publications

DarkSPHERE: Exploring light dark matter with a spherical proportional counter electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory

DarkSPHERE: Exploring light dark matter with a spherical proportional counter electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory

Multiplexed Readout for an Experiment with a Large Number of Channels Using Single-Electron Sensitivity Skipper-CCDs

Precision measurement of Compton scattering in silicon with a skipper CCD for dark matter detection

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