T. Dzhatdoev

NEWS: Nuclear Emulsions for WIMP Search

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 in conventional searches and to finally extend their sensitivity beyond the limit of neutrino-induced background. We propose here the use of a detector based on nuclear emulsions to measure the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils. The production of nuclear emulsion films with nanometric grains is established. Several measurement campaigns have demonstrated the capability of detecting sub-micrometric tracks left by low energy ions in such emulsion films. Innovative analysis technologies with fully automated optical microscopes have made it possible to achieve the track reconstruction for path lengths down to one hundred nanometers and there are good prospects to further exceed this limit. The detector concept we propose foresees the use of a bulk of nuclear emulsion films surrounded by a shield from environmental radioactivity, to be placed on an equatorial telescope in order to cancel out the effect of the Earth rotation, thus keeping the detector at a fixed orientation toward the expected direction of galactic WIMPs. We report the schedule and cost estimate for a one-kilogram mass pilot experiment, aiming at delivering the first results on the time scale of six years.

Search for sterile neutrinos in muon neutrino disappearance mode at FNAL

The NESSiE Collaboration has been setup to undertake a conclusive experiment to clarify the muon-neutrino disappearance measurements at short baselines in order to put severe constraints to models with more than the three-standard neutrinos. To this aim the current FNAL-Booster neutrino beam for a Short-Baseline experiment was carefully evaluated by considering the use of magnetic spectrometers at two sites, near and far ones. The detector locations were studied, together with the achievable performances of two OPERA-like spectrometers. The study was constrained by the availability of existing hardware and a time-schedule compatible with the undergoing project of multi-site Liquid–Argon detectors at FNAL. The settled physics case and the kind of proposed experiment on the Booster neutrino beam would definitively clarify the existing tension between the