Search for ER and/or NR-like dark matter signals with the especially low background liquid helium TPCs

In the Dark Matter (DM) direct detection community, the absence of convincing signals has become a "new normal" for decades. Among other possibilities, the "new normal" might indicate that DM-matter interactions could generate not only the hypothetical NR (Nuclear Recoil) events...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2023-10
Main Authors: Liao, Junhui, Gao, Yuanning, An, Guangpeng, Gu, Fengbo, Hu, Shangmao, Liang, Zhuo, Liu, Gang, Ma, Meiyuenan, Peng, Zhaohua, Xia, Junfeng, Zhang, Lei, Zhang, Lifeng, Zhao, Xiuliang, Zheng, Jian, Zhou, Jiangfeng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chambers
Dark matter
Helium
Liquid helium
Radiation counters
Recoil
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In the Dark Matter (DM) direct detection community, the absence of convincing signals has become a "new normal" for decades. Among other possibilities, the "new normal" might indicate that DM-matter interactions could generate not only the hypothetical NR (Nuclear Recoil) events but also the ER (Electron Recoil) ones, which have often been tagged as backgrounds historically. Further, we argue that ER and NR-like DM signals could co-exist in a DM detector's same dataset. So in total, there would be three scenarios we can search for DM signals: (i) ER excess only, (ii) NR excess only, and (iii) ER and NR excesses combined. To effectively identify any possible DM signal under the three scenarios, a DM detector should (a) have the minimum ER and NR backgrounds and (b) be capable of discriminating ER events from NR ones. Accordingly, we introduce the newly established project, ALETHEIA, which implements liquid helium-filled TPCs (Time Projection Chambers) in hunting for DM. Thanks to the nearly single-digit number of ER and NR backgrounds on 1 ton*yr exposure, presumably, the ALETHEIA detectors could identify any form of DM-induced excess in its ROI (Research Of Interest). As far as we know, ALETHEIA is the first DM direct detection experiment claiming such an inclusive search; conventional detectors search DM mainly on the "ER excess only" and/or the "NR excess only" channel, not the "ER and NR excesses combined" channel.
ISSN:2331-8422