Related papers: Germanium response to sub-keV nuclear recoils: a m…
Due to the low nuclear recoils, sub-GeV dark matter (DM) is usually beyond the sensitivity of the conventional DM direct detection experiments. The boosted and Migdal scattering mechanisms have been proposed as two new complementary avenues…
Light WIMP dark matter and hidden sector dark matter have been proposed to explain the DAMA, CoGeNT and CRESST-II data. Both of these approaches feature spin independent elastic scattering of dark matter particles on nuclei. Light WIMP dark…
We examine in depth a recent proposal to utilize superfluid helium for direct detection of sub-MeV mass dark matter. For sub-keV recoil energies, nuclear scattering events in liquid helium primarily deposit energy into long-lived phonon and…
The search for a novel technology able to detect and reconstruct nuclear and electron recoil events with the energy of a few keV has become more and more important now that large regions of high-mass dark matter (DM) candidates have been…
The low-energy monochromatic neutron emission from an Y-88/Be source can be exploited to mimic the few keVnr nuclear recoils expected from low-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and coherent scattering of neutrinos off…
We use Super-K data to place new strong limits on interactions of sub-GeV Dark Matter (DM) with nuclei, that rely on the DM flux inevitably induced by cosmic-ray upscatterings. We derive analogous sensitivities at Hyper-K and DUNE and…
The GERmanium Detector Array, GERDA, is designed for the search for ``neutrinoless double beta decay'' (0-nu-2-beta) with germanium detectors enriched in Ge76. An 18-fold segmented prototype detector for GERDA Phase II was exposed to an…
The sensitivity of experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta-decay of germanium was so far limited by the background induced by external gamma-radiation. Segmented germanium detectors can be used to identify photons and thus reduce…
We perform a theoretical study of the scintillation efficiency in the low-energy region crucial for liquid-xenon dark-matter detectors. We develop a computer program to simulate the cascading process of the recoiling xenon nucleus in liquid…
Dark matter direct detection experiments have limited sensitivity to light dark matter (below a few GeV), due to the challenges of lowering energy thresholds for the detection of nuclear recoil to below $\mathcal{O}(\mathrm{keV})$. While…
Dark matter plays a crucial role in our comprehension of the universe, but its mysterious nature poses challenges for direct detection. A primary obstacle in detecting dark matter is distinguishing genuine signals from the prevailing…
A side-to-side comparison is established between the nuclear recoil energy spectrum from CDMS germanium bolometers and its low-energy equivalent for events in the inner bulk volume of a CoGeNT germanium diode. Acknowledging the…
We report on several features present in the energy spectrum from an ultra low-noise germanium detector operated at 2,100 m.w.e. By implementing a new technique able to reject surface events, a number of cosmogenic peaks can be observed for…
This work is part of an ongoing project to develop a Superheated Superconducting Granule (SSG) detector for cold dark matter and neutrinos. The response of SSG devices to nuclear recoils has been explored irradiating SSG detectors with a…
Low-energy nuclear recoils (NRs) are hard to measure because they produce few e$^{-}$/h$^+$ pairs in solids -- i.e. they have low "ionization yield". A silicon detector was exposed to thermal neutrons over 2.5\,live-days, probing NRs down…
In order to test the capabilities of Barium Fluoride (BaF2) Crystal for dark matter direct detection, nuclear recoils are studied with mono-energetic neutron beam. The energy spectra of nuclear recoils, quenching factors for elastic…
High-energy neutrinos may resonate with relic background neutralinos to form short-lived sneutrinos. In some circumstances, the decay chain that leads back to the lightest supersymmetric particle would yield few-GeV gamma rays or…
We present a model of the ionization efficiency, or quenching factor, for low-energy nuclear recoils, based on a solution to Lindhard integral equation with binding energy and apply it to the calculation of the relative scintillation…
As part of an experimental effort to demonstrate sensitivity in a large-mass detector to the ultra-low energy recoils expected from coherent neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering, we have designed and built a highly monochromatic 24 keV…
The Dresden-II reactor experiment has recently reported a suggestive evidence for the observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, using a germanium detector. Given the low recoil energy threshold, these data are…