Unique Signature of Dark Matter in Ancient Mica
Astrophysics
2009-10-30 v1
Abstract
Mica can store (for >1 Gy) etchable tracks caused by atoms recoiling from WIMPs. Because a background from fission neutrons will eventually limit this technique, a unique signature for WIMPs in ancient mica is needed. Our motion around the center of the Galaxy causes WIMPs, unlike neutrons, to enter the mica from a preferred direction on the sky. Mica is a directional detector and despite the complex rotations that natural mica crystals make with respect to this WIMP ``wind,'' there is a substantial dependence of etch pit density on present day mica orientation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9701215,
title = {Unique Signature of Dark Matter in Ancient Mica},
author = {Daniel P. Snowden-Ifft and Andrew J. Westphal},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9701215},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures. Accepted for publication at Phys. Rev. Lett