Search for a Diurnal Modulation of Inelastically Scattered Dark Matter

ORAL

Abstract

Dark matter, some of the most elusive and theoretically postulated particles in our universe, may be key to understanding gravity, the particle content of the Universe, and how galaxies form and evolve. Certain theories postulate that dark matter particles can be excited through inelastic scattering with nuclei, and then be detected through a de-excitation gamma ray [Phys.Rev.D89, 055008 (2014)]. This research project exploits the unique geometry and extreme sensitivity of the existing CUORE Detector located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy to search for a diurnal modulation of inelastically scattered dark matter "wind" as an effect of the Earth's rotation. If observed, it would essentially be a "smoking gun" of evidence for dark matter, which would have profound implications for cosmology and our understanding of physics. We will report on the sensitivity of such a search, tools developed to observe the effect, and constraints on diurnal modulations of detector efficiencies.

*This work was supported by the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN); the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. NSF-PHY-0605119, NSF-PHY-0500337, NSF-PHY-0855314, NSF-PHY-0902171, NSF-PHY-0969852, NSF-PHY-1307204, NSF-PHY-1314881, NSF-PHY-1401832, NSF-PHY-1913374, and NSF-PHY-2412377; Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Pittsburgh. This material is also based upon work supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under Contract Nos. DE-AC02-05CH11231, and DE-AC52-07NA27344; by the DOE Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics under Contract Nos. DE-FG02-08ER41551, DE-FG03-00ER41138, DE-SC0012654, DE-SC0020423, DE-SC0019316, and DE-SC0011091. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). This work makes use of both the DIANA data analysis and APOLLO data acquisition software packages, which were developed by the CUORICINO, CUORE, LUCIFER, and CUPID-0 Collaborations.

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Presenters

  • Zachary Kronlage

    • UC Berkeley

Authors

  • Zachary Kronlage

    • UC Berkeley