Dark Matter Constraints from Isomeric \(^{\bf 178m}\)Hf

We describe a first measurement of the radiation from a \(^{\bf 178m}\)Hf sample to search for dark matter. The \(\gamma\) flux from this sample, possessed by Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear chemistry, was measured with a Ge detector at a distance of 4 ft due to its high activity. We search f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2023-06
Main Authors: Alves, D S M, Elliott, S R, Massarczyk, R, Meijer, S J, Ramani, H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dark matter
Inelastic scattering
Nuclear chemistry
Radioactive decay
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We describe a first measurement of the radiation from a \(^{\bf 178m}\)Hf sample to search for dark matter. The \(\gamma\) flux from this sample, possessed by Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear chemistry, was measured with a Ge detector at a distance of 4 ft due to its high activity. We search for \(\gamma\)s that cannot arise from the radioactive decay of \(^{\bf 178m}\)Hf, but might arise from the production of a nuclear state due to the inelastic scattering with dark matter. The limits obtained on this \(\gamma\) flux are then translated into constraints on the parameter space of inelastic dark matter. Finally, we describe the potential reach of future studies with \(^{\bf 178m}\)Hf.
ISSN:2331-8422