Related papers: Neutron Background Studies for the CRESST Dark Mat…
In the past years the spotlight of the search for dark matter particles widened to the low mass region, both from theoretical and experimental side. We discuss results from data obtained in 2013 with a single detector TUM40. This detector…
XENONnT is a dark matter direct detection experiment, utilizing 5.9 t of instrumented liquid xenon, located at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. In this work, we predict the experimental background and project the sensitivity of…
As experimental sensitivity increases, one is approaching the range of WIMP-nucleon interaction strengths characteristic of neutralinos. But this continuing progress also unearths new experimental challenges and uncertainties.
The direct search for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) is performed by detecting nuclear recoils (NR) produced in a target material from the WIMP elastic scattering. A promising experimental strategy…
Direct detection dark matter experiments, lead by the CDMS collaboration, have placed increasingly stronger constraints on the cross sections for elastic scattering of WIMPs on nucleons. These results impact the prospects for the indirect…
In direct dark matter detection experiments, conventional elastic scattering of WIMPs results in exponentially falling recoil spectra. In contrast, theories of WIMPs with excited states can lead to nuclear recoil spectra that peak at finite…
The search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) by direct detection faces an encroaching background due to coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering. For a given WIMP mass the cross section at which neutrinos constitute a dominant…
Data from the DRIFT-IIa directional dark matter experiment are presented, collected during a near continuous 6 month running period. A detailed calibration analysis comparing data from gamma-ray, x-ray and neutron sources to a GEANT4 Monte…
We study the sensitivity of multi ton-scale time projection chambers using a liquid xenon target, e.g., the proposed DARWIN instrument, to spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon scattering interactions. Taking into account…
Direct detection experiments for light dark matter are making enormous leaps in reaching previously unexplored model space. Several recent proposals rely on collective excitations, where the experimental sensitivity is highly dependent on…
The relation between the neutron background in neutron capture measurements and the neutron sensitivity related to the experimental setup is examined. It is pointed out that a proper estimate of the neutron background may only be obtained…
The analysis presented in the recent publication of the CRESST-II results finds a statistically significant excess of registered events over known background contributions in the acceptance region and attributes the excess to a possible…
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…
The search for sub-GeV dark matter via scattering on electrons has ramped up in the last few years. Like in the case of dark matter scattering on nuclei, electron-recoil-based searches also face an ultimate background in the form of…
Nowadays there is compelling evidence for the existence of dark matter in the Universe. A general consensus has been expressed on the need for a directional sensitive detector to confirm, with a complementary approach, the candidates found…
Recent computational results suggest that directional dark matter detectors have potential to probe for WIMP dark matter particles below the neutrino floor. The DRIFT-IId detector used in this work is a leading directional WIMP search time…
Data taken by CRESST in 2000 with a cryogenic detector system based on 262 g sapphire crystals is used to place limits on WIMP dark matter in the Galactic Halo. The detector is especially sensitive for low-mass WIMPS with spin-dependent…
The non-detection of GeV-scale WIMPs has led to increased interest in more general candidates, including sub-GeV dark matter. Direct detection experiments, despite their high sensitivity to WIMPs, are largely blind to sub-GeV dark matter.…
Among the direct search experiments for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter, the DAMA experiment observed an annual modulation signal interpreted as WIMP interactions with a significance of 9.2$\sigma$. Recently, Jonathan…
Direct detection experiments turn to lose sensitivity of searching for a sub-MeV light dark matter candidate due to the threshold of recoil energy. However, such light dark matter particles can be accelerated by energetic cosmic-rays such…