Related papers: Probing Internal Conversion and Dark-Matter-Induce…
Weak-scale dark matter particles, in collisions with nuclei, can mediate transitions between different nuclear energy levels. In particular, owing to sizeable momentum exchange, dark matter particles can enable de-excitation of nuclear…
There is compelling cosmological and astrophysical evidence of dark matter comprising 27% of the energy budget of the Universe. However, dark matter has never been observed in direct detection experiments. The long-time favorite model of…
$^{180m}$Ta is a rare nuclear isomer whose decay has never been observed. Its remarkably long lifetime surpasses the half-lives of all other known $\beta$ and electron capture decays due to the large K-spin differences and small energy…
$^{180m}$Ta is the longest-lived metastable state presently known. Its decay has not been observed yet. In this work, we report a new result on the decay of \mTa obtained with a $2015.12$-g tantalum sample measured for $527.7$ d with an…
Inelastic dark matter and strongly interacting dark matter are poorly constrained by direct detection experiments since they both require the scattering event to deliver energy from the nucleus into the dark matter in order to have…
$^{180m}$Ta is a naturally abundant quasi-stable nuclide and the longest-lived nuclear isomer known to date. It is of interest for, among others, the search for dark matter, for the development of a gamma laser and for astrophysics. So far,…
Transition Edge Sensors (TES) are superconducting microcalorimeters that can be used for single-photon detection with extremely low backgrounds. When they are within their superconducting transition region, small temperature fluctuations -…
A long-term measurement was conducted to search for $\alpha$, double-$\alpha$ and double-$\beta$ decays with $\gamma$ quanta emission in naturally occurring osmium isotopes. This study took advantage of two ultra-low background HPGe…
$^{\rm {180m}}$Ta is the rarest naturally occurring quasi-stable isotope and the longest lived metastable state which is known. Its possible decay via the $\beta^-$ or the electron capture channel has never been observed. This article…
This thesis explores experimental and theoretical approaches to dark matter detection, from gas-based detectors to quantum sensors, tackling the challenge of identifying dark matter, which makes up 27% of the Universe's energy. It reviews…
We present a comprehensive analysis of high-resolution transition-edge sensors (TESs) as a quantum sensing platform for detecting dark matter (DM). Operating near the thermodynamic noise limit with sub-eV energy resolution, TESs offer a…
Dark matter searches using dual-phase xenon time-projection chambers (LXe-TPCs) rely on their ability to reject background electron recoils (ERs) while searching for signal-like nuclear recoils (NRs). ER response is typically calibrated…
Charge trapping degrades the energy resolution of germanium (Ge) detectors, which require to have increased experimental sensitivity in searching for dark matter and neutrinoless double-beta decay. We investigate the charge trapping…
Dark matter (DM) particles decaying in the Galactic halo can inject energetic $e^\pm$ that inverse-Compton scatter (ICS) solar photons into $\gamma$-rays, producing a diffuse and extended halo of emission around the Sun. We present the…
The Transition Edge Sensor is extremely sensitive to the change of temperature, combined with the high-Z metal of a certain thickness, it can realize the high energy resolution measurement of particles such as X-rays. X-rays with energies…
The EDELWEISS Dark Matter Search uses low-temperature Ge detectors with heat and ionisation read-out to identify nuclear recoils induced by elastic collisions with WIMPs from the galactic halo. Preliminary results obtained with 320g…
One IGEX 76Ge double-beta decay detector is currently operating in the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in a search for dark matter WIMPs, through the Ge nuclear recoil produced by the WIMP elastic scattering. A new exclusion plot, has been…
We propose the use of transition-edge sensor (TES) single-photon detectors as a simultaneous target and sensor for direct dark matter searches, and report results from the first search of this kind. We perform a 489 h science run with a TES…
A search for a very-high-energy (VHE; >= 100 GeV) gamma-ray signal from self-annihilating particle Dark Matter (DM) is performed towards a region of projected distance r ~ 45-150 pc from the Galactic Center. The background-subtracted…
We consider the nuclear absorption of dark matter as an alternative to the typical indirect detection search channels of dark matter decay or annihilation. In this scenario, an atomic nucleus transitions to an excited state by absorbing a…