Galactic Geology: Probing Time-Varying Dark Matter Signals with Paleo-Detectors
arXiv:2107.02812 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.104.123015
Abstract
Paleo-detectors are a proposed experimental technique to search for dark matter by reading out the damage tracks caused by nuclear recoils in small samples of natural minerals. Unlike a conventional real-time direct detection experiment, paleo-detectors have been accumulating these tracks for up to a billion years. These long integration times offer a unique possibility: by reading out paleo-detectors of different ages, one can explore the time-variation of signals on megayear to gigayear timescales. We investigate two examples of dark matter substructure that could give rise to such time-varying signals. First, a dark disk through which the Earth would pass every 45 Myr, and second, a dark matter subhalo that the Earth encountered during the past gigayear. We demonstrate that paleo-detectors are sensitive to these examples under a wide variety of experimental scenarios, even in the presence of substantial background uncertainties. This paper shows that paleo-detectors may hold the key to unraveling our Galactic history.
26 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables, code available at https://github.com/sbaum90/paleoSens and https://github.com/sbaum90/paleoSpec. Published version
References in corpus (24)
- Array Programming with NumPy
- Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure
- galpy: A Python Library for Galactic Dynamics
- The Milky Way's circular velocity curve between 4 and 14 kpc from APOGEE data
- DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector
- Non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter direct detection
- Searching for low-mass dark matter particles with a massive Ge bolometer operated above-ground
- Low-Mass Dark Matter Search with CDMSlite
- Self-Scattering for Dark Matter with an Excited State
- Hidden Sector Hydrogen as Dark Matter: Small-scale Structure Formation Predictions and the Importance of Hyperfine Interactions
- Detection of sub-GeV Dark Matter and Solar Neutrinos via Chemical-Bond Breaking
- Nuclear spin structure in dark matter search: The finite momentum transfer limit
- Directional Detection of Dark Matter using Spectroscopy of Crystal Defects
- Analytical Approach to Subhaloes Population in Dark Matter Haloes
- Revised Geometric Estimates of the North Galactic Pole and the Sun's Height Above the Galactic Midplane
- Weighing the Galactic disk using phase-space spirals II. Most stringent constraints to a thin dark disk using Gaia EDR3
- Dark Matter Microhalos From Simplified Models
- Cooling in a Dissipative Dark Sector
- Ultra-Heavy Dark Matter Search with Electron Microscopy of Geological Quartz
- Weighing the Galactic disk in sub-regions of the solar neighbourhood using Gaia DR2
- New Projections for Dark Matter Searches with Paleo-Detectors
- Measuring solar neutrinos over Gigayear timescales with Paleo Detectors
- Old Rocks, New Limits: Excavated Ancient Mica Searches For Dark Matter
- Passive low-energy nuclear recoil detection with color centers
Cited by in corpus (5)
- Scattering searches for dark matter in subhalos: neutron stars, cosmic rays, and old rocks
- Review on dark matter searches
- Mineral Detection of Neutrinos and Dark Matter. A Whitepaper
- Directional Detection of Dark Matter Using Solid-State Quantum Sensing
- Projected Sensitivity of Paleo-Detectors to Dark Matter Effective Interactions with Nuclei