Related papers: Neutron Background Studies for the CRESST Dark Mat…
The CRESST experiment, located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, searches for dark matter particles via their elastic scattering off nuclei in a target material. The CRESST target consists of scintillating CaWO$_4$ crystals,…
The CDMS II experiment uses Z-dependent Ionization Phonon (ZIP) detectors made of Germanium and Silicon to identify nuclear recoils from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with near complete event-by-event rejection of various…
The XENON experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter in the form of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) via their elastic scattering off Xe nuclei. A fiducial mass of 1000 kg, distributed in ten independent liquid xenon…
Solving the Dark Matter enigma represents one of the key objectives of contemporary physics. Recent astrophysical and cosmological measurements have unambiguously demonstrated that ordinary matter contributes to less than 5 % of the energy…
A good particle candidate for Cold Dark Matter (CDM) is the supersymmetric neutralino or more generally a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). The expected interaction rate of WIMPs with the detector medium in the direct detection…
The next generation of large scale WIMP direct detection experiments have the potential to go beyond the discovery phase and reveal detailed information about both the particle physics and astrophysics of dark matter. We report here on…
We investigate standard and non-standard solar neutrino signals in direct dark matter detection experiments. It is well known that even without new physics, scattering of solar neutrinos on nuclei or electrons is an irreducible background…
Dark matter direct-detection searches for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are commonly limited in sensitivity by neutron and gamma backgrounds from the decay of radioactive isotopes. Several common radioisotopes in detector…
As dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments continue to improve their sensitivity they will inevitably encounter an irreducible background arising from coherent neutrino scattering. This so-called "neutrino floor" may significantly…
Mirror atoms are expected to be a significant component of the galactic dark matter halo if mirror matter is identified with the non-baryonic dark matter in the Universe. Mirror matter can interact with ordinary matter via gravity and via…
We study the dependence of the exposure required to directly detect a WIMP directional recoil signal on the capabilities of a directional detector. Specifically we consider variations in the nuclear recoil energy threshold, the background…
The existence of a cosmic neutrino background -- the analogue of the cosmic microwave background -- is a fundamental prediction of standard big bang cosmology. Up to now, the observational evidence for its existence is rather indirect and…
The direct dark matter search experiment CRESST uses scintillating CaWO$_4$ single crystals as targets for possible WIMP scatterings. An intrinsic radioactive contamination of the crystals as low as possible is crucial for the sensitivity…
Searches for dark matter-induced recoils have made impressive advances in the last few years. Yet the field is confronted by several outstanding problems. First, the inevitable background of solar neutrinos will soon inhibit the conclusive…
Many experiments seek dark matter by detecting relatively low energy nuclear recoils. Yet since events from ordinary physics with energies in the 1-100 KeV range are commonplace, all claims of signals or their absence hinge on exhaustive…
The energy spectrum of nuclear recoils in Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) direct detection experiments depends on the underlying WIMP mass (strongly for light WIMPs, weakly for heavy WIMPs). We discuss how the accuracy with which…
Identifying the nature and origin of dark matter is one of the major challenges for modern astro and particle physics. Direct dark-matter searches aim at an observation of dark-matter particles interacting within detectors. The focus of…
The sensitivity of conventional direct dark matter searches for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is ultimately limited by coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS), which produces nuclear recoils indistinguishable…
The three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of nuclear recoils is of interest for directional detection of fast neutrons and for direction-sensitive searches for weakly interacting massive particles(WIMPs), which may constitute the Dark…
The Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) collaboration is developing a low pressure gas TPC for detecting Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP)-nucleon interactions. Optical readout with CCD cameras allows for the detection of…