Related papers: Comparing readout strategies to directly detect da…
We show that compatibility between the DAMA modulation result (as well as less statistically significant excesses such as the CDMS Silicon effect and the excess claimed by CRESST) with constraints from other experiments can be achieved by…
This is a set of four lectures presented at the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI-09) in June 2009. I provide an introduction to experiments designed to detect WIMP dark matter directly, focusing on building intuitive understanding…
We study the effects of substructure in the Galactic halo on direct detection of dark matter, on searches for energetic neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in the Sun and Earth, and on the enhancement in the WIMP annihilation rate in the halo.…
Models of nuclear dark matter propose that the dark sector contains large composite states consisting of dark nucleons in analogy to Standard Model nuclei. We examine the direct detection phenomenology of a particular class of nuclear dark…
WIMP direct detection experiments are just reaching the sensitivity required to detect galactic dark matter in the form of neutralinos. Data from these experiments are usually analysed under the simplifying assumption that the Milky Way…
The status and prospects of the experimental efforts in the detection of Particle Dark Matter is reviewed. Emphasis is put in the direct searches for WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), outlining the various strategies and…
We evaluate background rejection capabilities and physics performance of a detector composed of two diverse elements: a sensitive target (filled with one or two species of liquefied noble gasses) and an active veto (made of Gd-doped…
We consider the direct detection of WIMPs reaching the Earth from outside the Milky Way. If these WIMPs form a distinct population they will, although of much lower flux than typical galactic halo WIMPs, have a number of features which…
We reexamine the model-independent data analysis methods for extracting properties of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) by using data (measured recoil energies) from direct Dark Matter detection experiments directly and, as a…
Main arguments on the Dark Matter particle direct detection approach are addressed on the basis of the work and of the results of the about 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) DAMA experiment (DAMA/NaI), which has been operative at the Gran…
We examine the sensitivity of a large scale two-phase liquid argon detector to the directionality of the dark matter signal. This study was performed under the assumption that, above 50 keV of recoil energy, one can determine (with some…
Observational evidence for dark matter can be explained by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). These dark matter particle candidates could indirectly be detected through the observation of signals produced as part of WIMP…
Several ideas for new physics beyond the standard model may provide particle candidates for the dark matter in the Galactic halo. The two leading candidates are an axion and a weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP), such as the…
The world's leading directional dark matter experiments currently all utilize low-pressure gas Time Projection Chamber (TPC) technologies. We discuss some of the challenges for this technology, for which balancing the goal of achieving the…
We review the halo-independent formalism, that allows to compare data from different direct dark matter detection experiments without making assumptions on the properties of the dark matter halo. We apply this method to spin-independent…
Direct detection dark matter experiments looking for WIMP-nucleus elastic scattering will soon be sensitive to an irreducible background from neutrinos which will drastically affect their discovery potential. Here we explore how the…
The WIMP "miracle" suggests a new physics threshold ranging from the weak scale up to several tens of TeVs. Obtaining the correct dark matter density in many theories aiming to solve the hierarchy problem may thus require some amount of…
We explore the possible signatures of dark matter (DM) pair annihilations in the nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco. After investigating the mass models for Draco in the light of available observational data, we carefully model the DM…
We developed a three-dimensional gaseous tracking device and performed a direction-sensitive dark matter search in a surface laboratory. By using 150 Torr carbon-tetrafluoride (CF_4 gas), we obtained a sky map drawn with the recoil…
We investigate novel strategies to extend the sensitivity of dark matter direct detection experiments to energy deposits well below the thresholds of conventional detectors. In liquid-argon time-projection chambers equipped with silicon…