Related papers: Fuelling the search for light dark matter-electron…
Owing to its low electronic noise and flexible target materials, the Spherical Proportional Counter (SPC) with a single electron detection threshold can be utilized to search for sub-GeV dark matter (DM). In this work, we investigate the…
Spherical proportional counters (SPCs) are gaseous particle detectors sensitive to single ionization electrons in their target media, with large detector volumes and low background rates. The $\mbox{NEWS-G}$ collaboration employs this…
The Spherical gaseous detector (or Spherical Proportional Counter, SPC) has a broad range of applications. In this work, we will focus on the light WIMP Dark Matter particle search, that is, below a few GeV. The NEWS-G collaboration…
Dark matter in the sub-GeV mass range is a theoretically motivated but largely unexplored paradigm. Such light masses are out of reach for conventional nuclear recoil direct detection experiments, but may be detected through the small…
We compute the projected sensitivity to dark matter (DM) particles in the sub-GeV mass range of future direct detection experiments using germanium and silicon semiconductor targets. We perform this calculation within the dark photon model…
We report on recent progress in the search for dark matter particles with masses from 1 MeV to 1 GeV. Several dark matter candidates in this mass range are expected to generate measurable electronic-recoil signals in direct-detection…
Dark matter (DM) particles with mass in the sub-GeV range are an attractive alternative to heavier weakly-interacting massive particles, but direct detection of such light particles is challenging. If however DM-nucleus scattering leads to…
Recent sky surveys have discovered a large number of stellar substructures. It is highly likely that there are dark matter (DM) counterparts to these stellar substructures. We examine the implications of DM substructures for electron recoil…
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…
Spherical Proportional Counters (SPCs) are a novel gaseous detector technology employed by the NEWS-G low-mass dark matter search experiment for their high sensitivity to single electrons from ionization. In this paper, we report on the…
The Spherical gaseous detector (or Spherical Proportional Counter, SPC) is a novel type of par- ticle detector, with a broad range of applications. Its main features include a very low energy threshold independent of the volume (due to its…
Sub-GeV dark matter (DM) which interacts with electrons can excite electrons occupying molecular orbitals in a scattering event. In particular, aromatic compounds such as benzene or xylene have an electronic excitation energy of a few eV,…
We investigate dark matter (DM)-electron scattering in a minimal $U(1)_X$ extension of the Standard Model (SM), where the DM can appear as a Majorana fermion, a complex singlet scalar or a Dirac fermion. To study bounds on the $U(1)_X$…
In recent years, a growing experimental program has begun to search for sub-GeV dark matter through its scattering with electrons. An associated theoretical challenge is to compute the dark matter scattering rate in experimental targets,…
All attempts to directly detect particle dark matter (DM) scattering on nuclei suffer from the partial or total loss of sensitivity for DM masses in the GeV range or below. We derive novel constraints from the inevitable existence of a…
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…
Elucidating the nature of dark matter is a key priority that would involve discovering new fundamental physics and is essential for understanding the structure and evolution of the universe. Despite the decades-long ever-more-sensitive…
We show that the rate for dark matter-electron scattering in an arbitrary material is determined by an experimentally measurable quantity, the complex dielectric function, for any dark matter interaction that couples to electron density.…
Direct detection strategies are proposed for dark matter particles with MeV to GeV mass. In this largely unexplored mass range, dark matter scattering with electrons can cause single-electron ionization signals, which are detectable with…
We show that the scattering rate for any dark matter (DM) interaction with electrons in any target is proportional to several measurable material properties, encapsulated by a single master formula. This generalizes the dielectric function…