Search results for "Massive particle"
showing 10 items of 47 documents
Reconstructing WIMP properties with neutrino detectors
2008
If the dark matter of the Universe is constituted by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP), they would accumulate in the core of astrophysical objects as the Sun and annihilate into particles of the Standard Model. High-energy neutrinos would be produced in the annihilations, both directly and via the subsequent decay of leptons, quarks and bosons. While Cherenkov neutrino detectors/telescopes can only count the number of neutrinos above some threshold energy, we study how, by exploiting their energy resolution, large magnetized iron calorimeter and, possibly, liquid argon and totally active scintillator detectors, planned for future long baseline neutrino experiments, have the capabi…
Ionization of atoms by slow heavy particles, including dark matter
2016
Atoms and molecules can become ionized during the scattering of a slow, heavy particle off a bound electron. Such an interaction involving leptophilic weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is a promising possible explanation for the anomalous 9 sigma annual modulation in the DAMA dark matter direct detection experiment [R. Bernabei et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 73, 2648 (2013)]. We demonstrate the applicability of the Born approximation for such an interaction by showing its equivalence to the semiclassical adiabatic treatment of atomic ionization by slow-moving WIMPs. Conventional wisdom has it that the ionization probability for such a process should be exponentially small. We show, howe…
Search for dark matter in the Sun with the ANTARES neutrino telescope in the CMSSM and mUED frameworks
2012
ANTARES is the first neutrino telescope in the sea. It consists of a three-dimensional array of 885 photomultipliers to collect the Cherenkov light induced by relativistic muons produced in CC interactions of high energy neutrinos. One of the main scientific goals of the experiment is the search for dark matter. We present here the analysis of data taken during 2007 and 2008 to look for a WIMP signal in the Sun. WIMPs are one of the most popular scenarios to explain the dark matter content of the Universe. They would accumulate in massive objects like the Sun or the Galactic Center and their self-annihilation would produce (directly or indirectly) high energy neutrinos detectable by neutrin…
Fuzzy Dark Matter and Non-Standard Neutrino Interactions
2018
We discuss novel ways in which neutrino oscillation experiments can probe dark matter. In particular, we focus on interactions between neutrinos and ultra-light ("fuzzy") dark matter particles with masses of order $10^{-22}$ eV. It has been shown previously that such dark matter candidates are phenomenologically successful and might help ameliorate the tension between predicted and observed small scale structures in the Universe. We argue that coherent forward scattering of neutrinos on fuzzy dark matter particles can significantly alter neutrino oscillation probabilities. These effects could be observable in current and future experiments. We set new limits on fuzzy dark matter interacting…
Inelastic WIMP-nucleus scattering to the first excited state in125Te
2016
The direct detection of dark matter constituents, in particular the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), is considered central to particle physics and cosmology. In this paper we study transitions to the excited states, possible in some nuclei, which have sufficiently low lying excited states. Examples considered previously were the first excited states of $^{127}$I and $^{129}$Xe and $^{83}$Kr. Here we examine $^{125}$Te, which offers some advantages and is currently being considered as a target.In all these cases the extra signature of the gamma rays following the de-excitation of these states has definite advantages over the purely nuclear recoil and, in principle, such a signat…
Connection between certain massive and massless diagrams
1996
A useful connection between two-loop massive vacuum integrals and one-loop off-shell triangle diagrams with massless internal particles is established for arbitrary values of the space-time dimension {ital n}. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Theoretical direct WIMP detection rates for transitions to the first excited state inKr83
2015
The direct detection of dark matter constituents, in particular the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), is central to particle physics and cosmology. In this paper we study transitions to the excited states, possible in some nuclei, which have sufficiently low lying excited states. Examples considered previously were the first excited states of $^{127}\mathrm{I}$ and $^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$. We examine here $^{83}\mathrm{Kr}$, which offers some kinematical advantages and is a possible target. We estimate appreciable rates for the inelastic scattering mediated by the spin cross sections, with an inelastic event rate of $4.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}\text{ …
WIMP dark matter as radiative neutrino mass messenger
2013
The minimal seesaw extension of the Standard SU(3)(c)circle times SU(2)(L)circle times U(1)(Y) Model requires two electroweak singlet fermions in order to accommodate the neutrino oscillation parameters at tree level. Here we consider a next to minimal extension where light neutrino masses are generated radiatively by two electroweak fermions: one singlet and one triplet under SU(2)(L). These should be odd under a parity symmetry and their mixing gives rise to a stable weakly interactive massive particle (WIMP) dark matter candidate. For mass in the GeV-TeV range, it reproduces the correct relic density, and provides an observable signal in nuclear recoil direct detection experiments. The f…
2019
Abstract We perform calculations of structure functions for elastic and inelastic spin-dependent scattering of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) off 125Te, 129Xe, and 131Xe. The nuclear structure calculations are performed in the microscopic interacting boson-fermion model (IBFM-2). In our calculations we employ one-body and leading long-range two-body WIMP-nucleus currents derived from chiral effective field theory. We demonstrate that the relevant matrix elements can be reliably computed in the IBFM-2, which will allow investigation of heavy deformed nuclei previously inaccessible to theoretical calculations.
Cold positrons from decaying dark matter
2012
Many models of dark matter contain more than one new particle beyond those in the Standard Model. Often heavier particles decay into the lightest dark matter particle as the Universe evolves. Here we explore the possibilities that arise if one of the products in a (Heavy Particle) $\rightarrow$ (Dark Matter) decay is a positron, and the lifetime is shorter than the age of the Universe. The positrons cool down by scattering off the cosmic microwave background and eventually annihilate when they fall into Galactic potential wells. The resulting 511 keV flux not only places constraints on this class of models but might even be consistent with that observed by the INTEGRAL satellite.