Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2015 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics
Volume 60, Number 13
Wednesday–Saturday, October 28–31, 2015; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Session KD: Mini-Symposium on the Role of Nuclear Physics in Dark Matter Detection I |
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Chair: Vincenzo Cirigliano, Los Alamos National Laboratory Room: Sweeney Ballroom C |
Friday, October 30, 2015 2:00PM - 2:36PM |
KD.00001: Nuclear Physics of Dark Matter Detection Invited Speaker: Wick Haxton Effective theory provides an attractive interface between nuclear theory and results from direct detection dark matter searches, on one hand, and candidate ultraviolet theories for describing dark matter on a more fundamental level, on the other. I describe a recently developed nucleon-level effective theory of dark matter particle interactions and its embedding in a nucleus, to determine the most general form of the nuclear response for dark matter elastic scattering. This leads to the conclusion that a great deal can be learned about dark matter particle properties if the requisite number of independent nuclear experiments are done. I will describe some of the associated nuclear physics, including shell model calculations of the relevant response functions. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 2:36PM - 2:48PM |
KD.00002: Results from the DM-Ice17 Dark Matter Experiment Zachary Pierpoint DM-Ice is a phased experimental program using low-background NaI(Tl) crystals aimed at unambiguously testing the claim that the annual modulation observed in DAMA/LIBRA is due to dark-matter. DM-Ice17, consisting of 17kg of NaI(Tl), has been continuously operating at the South Pole for over 4 years, demonstrating the feasibility of a low-background experiment in the Antarctic ice. Studies of backgrounds including cosmogenic activation, muon phosphorescence, and non-scintillation noise, detector stability, as well as an analysis of the low-energy spectrum in DM-Ice17 will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 2:48PM - 3:00PM |
KD.00003: Investigation of Annual Modulation Signal from Radon Induced Gamma Rays Chao Zhang, Dongming Mei The phenomenon of annual modulation is believed to be one of~the signatures induced by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles(WIMPs) through elastic scattering off nucleus in the target for direct dark matter searches. Both DAMA and CoGeNT experiments have claimed the discovery of dark matter in terms of annual modulation while many other experiments have ruled out the entire claimed region. However, the sources that caused the annual modulation in DAMA and CoGeNT are still unknown which need to be investigated. Annual modulations of Radon at underground sites are reported by many experiments. As a potential source, we investigate (alpha, gamma) reactions, induced by radon decay chain, occurring on the surface of those common shielding materials and explain how this background annual modulation may mimic dark matter signature. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 3:00PM - 3:12PM |
KD.00004: Search for Low-Energy Events with CUORE-0 and CUORE Kyungeun Lim CUORE-0 is a cryogenic detector that uses an array of tellurium dioxide bolometers with the primary physics goal of searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{130}$Te. The detector consists of 52 $^{\mathrm{nat}}$TeO$_{2}$ crystal bolometers, which amounts to a total $^{130}$Te mass of 11kg, held in a ultra-pure copper frame. It was assembled using new low-background techniques developed for CUORE. The first results on the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay with CUORE-0 combined with Cuoricinio, a predecessor to CUORE-0, set the most stringent limit on the half-life of $^{130}$Te. Successful background mitigation, along with continuous data acquisition make CUORE-0 also suitable for other low-energy, rare event searches such as dark matter. I will discuss the status of the low-energy event search with CUORE-0 and prospects for CUORE. CUORE is in the final stages of construction and scheduled to begin data-taking in late 2015. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 3:12PM - 3:24PM |
KD.00005: Searching for Solar Axions using the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR Christopher O'Shaughnessy The choice of P-Type Point Contact (PPC) detectors for the {\sc Majorana Demonstrator} (MJD) was driven by the high energy resolution and superb pulse shape analysis capability of this technology. Due to its low-capacitance this technology also boasts good energy resolution even at low energy, at the keV scale or better. This opens up an ensemble of searches for new physics that can be pursued in parallel with the main goals of searching for neutrinoless double beta decay. Here I will discuss the efforts toward measuring crystal axes in the as-built detector units of MJD to improve sensitivity to the detection of solar axions. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 30, 2015 3:24PM - 3:36PM |
KD.00006: A Study of Intrinsic Statistical Variation for Nuclear Recoils in Germanium Detector for Dark Matter Searches Wenzhao Wei, Lu Wang, Dongming Mei The intrinsic statistical variation in nuclear recoils is a critical part that cannot be ignored when calculating energy resolution of germanium detector in detecting WIMPs. Have a good theoretical understanding about the intrinsic statistical variation in nuclear recoils and develop a model for calculating this variation based on experimental data is of great importance in determining the width of nuclear recoil band, which is used to identify nuclear recoils events. Hence, we designed an experiment to study the intrinsic statistical variation in nuclear recoils with various gamma sources and AmBe neutron source. In addition, we developed a theoretical model to calculate the intrinsic statistical variation in nuclear recoils based on data from AmBe neutron source. In this work, we will present our data and theoretical calculation for nuclear recoils. This work is supported by NSF in part by the NSF PHY-0758120, DOE grant DE-FG02-10ER46709, and the State of South Dakota. [Preview Abstract] |
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