Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2023
Volume 68, Number 6
Minneapolis, Minnesota (Apr 15-18)
Virtual (Apr 24-26); Time Zone: Central Time
Session B12: Dark Matter I |
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Sponsoring Units: DPF Chair: Kelly Stifter, Fermilab Room: Marquette III - 2nd Floor |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 10:45AM - 10:57AM |
B12.00001: DarkSide-20k: dark matter detection with liquid argon time projection chamber Allan Sung DarkSide-20k is a dark matter direct detection experiment using a double phase time projection chamber (TPC) filled with 50 tonnes of low-radioactivity liquid argon extracted from underground sources. Based upon the success of its predecessor DarkSide-50, DarkSide-20k will achieve an unprecedented sensitivity to the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The detector will be equipped with SiPM-based cryogenic photodetectors with high photo-detection efficiency and Gd-loaded acrylic with high neutron tagging efficiency, and it will be housed at LNGS underground laboratory in Gran Sasso, Italy. This talk will give an overview of the DarkSide-20k project and the latest updates on the ongoing R&D activities. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 10:57AM - 11:09AM |
B12.00002: The SPLENDOR experiment - Search for Particles of Light Dark Matter with Narrow-Gap Semiconductors Aparajita Mazumdar The direct detection and study of dark matter, which constitutes 85% of the total mass in the Universe, remains one of the biggest open problems of modern physics. The present state-of-the-art dark matter detectors for sub-GeV dark matter searches use standard semiconductors with band-gaps O(eV), such as Si or Ge, which are not sensitive to fermionic dark matter lighter than ∼MeV and to bosonic dark matter lighter than <!--[if gte msEquation 12]> style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>~∼eV. SPLENDOR (Search for Particles of Light Dark Matter with Narrow-Gap Semiconductors) proposes to use novel narrow band-gap semiconductors as ionization detectors to search for light dark matter in this previously unexplored mass regime. These materials, having band-gaps < O(100 meV), can be developed into low threshold detectors sensitive to sub-eV energy deposits when operated at mK temperatures. Low-noise cryogenic amplifiers based on High Electron Mobility Transistors are used to read out the charge signals, with an ultimate instrumentation goal of single electron-hole pair detection with charge-sensitive quantum sensors. In this talk, I will give an overview of SPLENDOR, and discuss our recent progress in the growth and characterization of the narrow band-gap semiconductors, and the development and testing of the low-noise charge readout. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 11:09AM - 11:21AM |
B12.00003: Compton step calibration feasibility study for SuperCDMS SNOLAB detectors Ata Sattari SuperCDMS SNOLAB will be a direct detection experiment with world-leading sensitivity for low-mass dark matter (DM) that employs cryogenic silicon and germanium calorimeters. The experimental infrastructure is expected to be commissioned in early 2024. Because of an expected non-linear energy response of SNOLAB detectors, a precise calibration over the entire energy range of DM models under investigation will be required. Insertable radioactive sources with known gamma lines and germanium activation lines constitute the primary calibration method for SuperCDMS detectors. One of the complementary methods proposed for silicon-based detectors is to make use of Compton steps providing two energy signatures at ∼0.1 keV and ∼2 keV which covers the energy range for sub-GeV DM searches. Compton step calibration is actively explored at test facilities running SuperCDMS silicon high-voltage, eV-scale (HVeV) prototype detectors. In this talk, we will present the status of the Compton step calibration performed on the HVeV detectors. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 11:21AM - 11:33AM |
B12.00004: The ORGAN Experiment: Results, Status, and Future Plans Ben McAllister We present the current status and future plans of the various experiments within The Oscillating Resonant Group AxioN (ORGAN) Experiment Collaboration, which develops axion haloscopes. ORGAN is a collaboration of various nodes of the ARC Centres of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems, and Dark Matter Particle Physics, and is primarily hosted at the University of Western Australia. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 11:33AM - 11:45AM |
B12.00005: Position reconstruction of S2 signals near the edges of the DARWIN detector Dhanurdhar Bajpai DARWIN is a planned next-generation dark matter detector that will use a 40-ton liquid xenon time projection chamber to search for WIMP dark matter, neutrinoless double-beta decay, axion-like particles, measure solar neutrino fluxes, and investigate other physics channels. It will be sensitive to WIMP in the mass range from 5 GeV to above 10 TeV with cross section down to the neutrino floor. Building such a sensitive detector requires probing various designs to identify which have the best performance. In this talk, different designs of the gas region of the DARWIN detector are investigated using Monte Carlo simulation and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) in order to improve the position reconstruction of the electroluminescence (S2) signals near the edges of the detector. Events are generated using a novel, GPU-based simulation framework. Then, CNNs are deployed to compare accuracy of position reconstruction for several alternative designs. The talk will briefly introduce the DARWIN observatory and present methods and current results of the attempt to improve the S2 position reconstruction near the edges of the detector. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 11:45AM - 11:57AM |
B12.00006: Sub-GeV Dark Matter Results from an Above-Ground Detector with 2.3 eV Energy Resolution Jack Nelson The second generation Cryogenic PhotoDetector (CPDv2) is a large area, 11-gram detector with a 2.3 eV energy resolution, which employs a TES-based readout on a Si absorber. The device's excellent resolution makes it well suited for the direct detection of light dark matter (LDM) with masses below 1 GeV. In a collaboration between SuperCDMS and SPICE/HeRALD, a short-exposure search for LDM was performed with this device on the surface. This talk will discuss the results of this search, including the employment of new techniques to account for sensitivity to below threshold events which may be boosted by noise fluctuations. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 11:57AM - 12:09PM |
B12.00007: Status of the DAMIC-M dark matter experiment Kellie McGuire The DAMIC-M (DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane) experiment will exploit the sub-electron resolution capabilities of skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to search for sub-GeV dark matter particles with a 1 kg-year exposure. The experiment will operate 1700 m below the Mount Fréjus peak in Modane, France, at the Laboratorie Souterrain de Modane (LSM), with data-taking scheduled to commence in 2024. With an eV-scale energy threshold, DAMIC-M will advance by several orders of magnitude the exploration of the dark matter particle hypothesis, in particular of candidates pertaining to the so-called hidden sector. To inform the design and operation of the upcoming dark matter search, including meeting the 0.1 dru background rate necessary to achieve its sensitivity goals, in early 2022 the DAMIC Collaboration installed and has since been operating a prototype detector, the Low Background Chamber (LBC), in LSM. We will report the status of the DAMIC-M experiment and results thus far obtained from LBC commissioning data. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 12:09PM - 12:21PM |
B12.00008: Low energy calibration and characterization of novel dark matter detectors utilizing cryogenic optical beam steering Kelly Stifter A major hurdle in searches for sub-GeV particle-like dark matter is demonstrating sufficiently low energy detection thresholds in order to detect recoils from light dark matter particles. Many detector concepts have been proposed to achieve this goal, which often include novel detector target media or sensor technology. A universal challenge in understanding the signals from these new detectors and enabling discovery potential is characterization of detector response near threshold, as the calibration methods available at low energies are very limited. We have developed a system capable of cryogenic optical beam steering for robust calibration of any photon-sensitive detector over the energy range of 0.06 - 5eV. This system can be used to scan over a detector and deliver short, collimated pulses of small numbers of photons in a way that limits parasitic backgrounds, allowing for exploration of a variety of science targets including position sensitivity of detector configurations, phonon transport in materials, and the effect of quasiparticle poisoning on detector operation. In this talk, I will present the design overview and specifications, along with current status of the testing program involving mKID and qubit devices. |
Saturday, April 15, 2023 12:21PM - 12:33PM |
B12.00009: Search for Dark Matter induced 180Ta decay in MAJORANA Steve R Elliott The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment ended its search for neutrinoless double beta decay in March 2021. MAJORANA operates one of the world-leading ultra-low background experiments, and we modified this facility to search for one of the rarest isotope decays. The isotope 180Ta is the only known isotope in nature that occurs in an isomeric state instead of the ground state. The isomeric decay is spin-suppressed, and its decay has never been observed. Beyond understanding the mechanisms that play a role in its decay, the rare state can be exploited to search for dark matter (DM) through a stimulated decay. In this project, we installed clean Ta samples between the HPGe detectors and are exploiting the ultra-low background environment to search for the nuclear decay and the possible induced emission by DM. We will describe the status of this search. |
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