Directional detection of Dark Matter

Abstract

Among the many experimental techniques available, those providing directional information have the potential of yielding an unambiguous observation of WIMPs even in the presence of insidious backgrounds. A measurement of the distribution of arrival direction of WIMPs can also discriminate between Galactic Dark Matter halo models. In this article, I will discuss the motivation for directional detectors and review the experimental techniques used by the various experiments. I will then describe one of them, the DMTPC detector, in more detail.

17 pages, 11 postscript figures, mini-review submitted to Modern Physics Letters A (MPLA). Submitted to Modern Physics Letters A (MPLA)

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• MIMAC : A Micro-TPC Matrix of Chambers for direct detection of Wimps
• Measurement of the Range Component Directional Signature in a DRIFT-II Detector using 252Cf Neutrons
• Performance of a Time-Projection-Chamber with a Large-Area Micro-Pixel-Chamber Readout

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Energy Dependence of Direct Detection Cross Section for Asymmetric Mirror Dark Matter
• Inelastic Dark Matter and DAMA/LIBRA: An Experimentum Crucis
• Directional recoil detection
• Can we overcome the neutrino floor at high masses?
• New Experimental Constraints in a New Landscape for Composite Dark Matter
• Direct Dark Matter Detection - A spin 3/2 WIMP candidate
• Disentangling Dark Matter Dynamics with Directional Detection
• Magnetic Inelastic Dark Matter: Directional Signals Without a Directional Detector
• Background Rejection in the DMTPC Dark Matter Search Using Charge Signals
• Background Rejection in the DMTPC Dark Matter Search Using Charge Signals
• On Diurnal and Annual Variations of Directional Detection Rates of Dark Matter
• An Attractive Scenario for Light Dark Matter Direct Detection
• Dark Matter in 3D
• Discretising the velocity distribution for directional dark matter experiments
• Simulations of the 3-Dimensional Velocity Distribution of Halo Weakly Interacting Massive Particles for Directional Dark Matter Detection Experiments
• Numerical Simulations of the Dark Universe: State of the Art and the Next Decade
• Detecting stable massive neutral particles through particle lensing