A. D. Ferella

Scintillation efficiency of liquid argon in low energy neutron-argon scattering

Experiments searching for weak interacting massive particles with noble gases such as liquid argon require very low detection thresholds for nuclear recoils. A determination of the scintillation efficiency is crucial to quantify the response of the detector at low energy. We report the results obtained with a small liquid argon cell using a monoenergetic neutron beam produced by a deuterium-deuterium fusion source. The light yield relative to electrons was measured for six argon recoil energies between 11 and 120 keV at zero electric drift field.

Dark matter spin determination with directional direct detection experiments

If dark matter has spin 0, only two WIMP-nucleon interaction operators can arise as leading operators from the nonrelativistic reduction of renormalizable single-mediator models for dark matter-quark interactions. Based on this crucial observation, we show that about 100 signal events at next generation directional detection experiments can be enough to enable a 2 sigma rejection of the spin 0 dark matter hypothesis in favor of alternative hypotheses where the dark matter particle has spin 1/2 or 1. In this context, directional sensitivity is crucial since anisotropy patterns in the sphere of nuclear recoil directions depend on the spin of the dark matter particle. For comparison, about 100 signal events are expected in a CF4\ detector operating at a pressure of 30 torr with an exposure of approximately 26,000 cubic-meter-detector days for WIMPs of 100 GeV mass and a WIMP-fluorine scattering cross section of 0.25 pb. Comparable exposures require an array of cubic meter time projection chamber detectors.

Materials Informatics for Dark Matter Detection

Dark Matter particles are commonly assumed to be weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with a mass in the GeV to TeV range. However, recent interest has shifted towards lighter WIMPs, which are more difficult to probe experimentally. A detection of sub-GeV WIMPs would require the use of small gap materials in sensors. Using recent estimates of the WIMP mass, we identify the relevant target space towards small gap materials (100-10 meV). Dirac Materials, a class of small- or zero-gap materials, emerge as natural candidates for sensors for Dark Matter detection. We propose the use of informatics tools to rapidly assay materials band structures to search for small gap semiconductors and semimetals, rather than focusing on a few preselected compounds. As a specific example of the proposed strategy, we use the organic materials database (this http URL) to identify organic candidates for sensors: the narrow band gap semiconductors BNQ-TTF and DEBTTT with gaps of 40 and 38 meV, and the Dirac-line semimetal (BEDT-TTF)

First Dark Matter Search Results from the XENON1T Experiment

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Performance of the Hamamatsu R11410 Photomultiplier Tube in Xenon Environments

Br which exhibits a tiny gap of