Related papers: Light WIMP searches involving electron scattering
A generic weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) is one of the most attractive candidates to account for the cold dark matter in our Universe, since it would be thermally produced with the correct abundance to account for the observed…
After a brief introduction to dark matter in general and to WIMPs as candidates, we review recent results of direct dark matter searches. We concentrate on older and more recent hints pointing to light WIMP's with mass below 10 GeV.
Dark matter with mass below about a GeV is essentially unobservable in conventional direct detection experiments. However, newly proposed technology will allow the detection of single electron events in semiconductor materials with…
We propose and study a new class of superconducting detectors which are sensitive to O(meV) electron recoils from dark matter-electron scattering. Such devices could detect dark matter as light as the warm dark matter limit, mX > keV. We…
We address the question of whether the upcoming generation of dark matter search experiments and colliders will be able to discover if the dark matter in the Universe has two components of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). We…
The CSC (cryogenic scintillating calorimeter) technology devoted to rare event searches is reaching the sensitivity level required for the hunt of dark matter-electron scatterings. Dark matter-electron interactions in scintillating targets…
Theoretical and experimental techniques employed in dedicated searches for dark matter at hadron colliders are reviewed. Bounds from the 7 and 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC on dark matter interactions have been collected and the…
Dark Matter particles are commonly assumed to be weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with a mass in the GeV to TeV range. However, recent interest has shifted towards lighter WIMPs, which are more difficult to probe experimentally.…
Direct dark matter detection experiments search for rare signals induced by hypothetical, galactic dark matter particles in low-background detectors operated deep underground. I will briefly review the direct detection principles, the…
The existence of dark matter is undisputed, while the nature of it is still unknown. Explaining dark matter with the existence of a new unobserved particle is among the most promising possible solutions. Recently dark matter candidates in…
The complementarity of direct, indirect and collider searches for dark matter has improved our understanding concerning the properties of the dark matter particle. I will review the basic concepts that these methods rely upon and highlight…
This article gives an overview on the status of experimental searches for dark matter at the end of 2014. The main focus is on direct searches for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using underground-based low-background…
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs, $\chi$) are candidates for Dark Matter. WIMP searches at lepton colliders are complementary to searches at hadron colliders and direct and indirect detection, since they directly probe the…
Dark Matter experiments searching for Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) primarily use nuclear recoils (NRs) in their attempt to detect WIMPs. Migdal-induced electronic recoils (ERs) provide additional sensitivity to light Dark…
Low-threshold dark matter detectors, in particular cryogenic detectors based on dielectric materials, are among the best tools for probing sub-GeV dark matter masses. In the coming years detectors of this type will become sensitive to solar…
If dark matter consists of hidden-sector photons which kinetically mix with regular photons, a tiny oscillating electric-field component is present wherever we have dark matter. In the surface of conducting materials this induces a small…
The electron ionization predicted by the Migdal effect in dark matter-nucleus scattering enhances experimental sensitivity to sub-GeV dark matter. In this work, we demonstrate that lower-energy electron excitations provide a novel and…
If dark matter (DM) particles are lighter than a few MeV/$c^2$ and can scatter off electrons, their interaction within the solar interior results in a considerable hardening of the spectrum of galactic dark matter received on Earth. For a…
The status and plans of a research program on the development of ultra-low-energy germanium detectors with sub-keV sensitivities are reported. We survey the scientific goals which include the observation of neutrino-nucleus coherent…
Direct detection experiments aim at the detection of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) by searching for signals from elastic dark matter nucleus scattering. Additionally, inelastic scattering in which…