Channeling in direct dark matter detection I: channeling fraction in NaI (Tl) crystals

Abstract

The channeling of the ion recoiling after a collision with a WIMP changes the ionization signal in direct detection experiments, producing a larger signal than otherwise expected. We give estimates of the fraction of channeled recoiling ions in NaI (Tl) crystals using analytic models produced since the 1960's and 70's to describe channeling and blocking effects. We find that the channeling fraction of recoiling lattice nuclei is smaller than that of ions that are injected into the crystal and that it is strongly temperature dependent.

37 pages, 35 figures, Accepted for publication in JCAP on 27 October 2010, Minor revisions: added an appendix, updated references, updated Fig. 9, corrected a few typos

References in corpus (2)

• Possible implications of the channeling effect in NaI(Tl) crystals
• Channeling Effect and Improvement of the Efficiency of Charged Particle Registration with Crystal Scintillators

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