Galactic Geology: Probing Time-Varying Dark Matter Signals with Paleo-Detectors

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 $\sim$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.

arXiv comment26 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables, code available at https://github.com/sbaum90/paleoSens and https://github.com/sbaum90/paleoSpec. Published version

References in corpus (96)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• The Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos
• Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics
• Local Kinematics and the Local Standard of Rest
• The Aquarius Project: the subhalos of galactic halos
• Dark Matter Search Results from a One Tonne$\times$Year Exposure of XENON1T
• Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure
• galpy: A Python Library for Galactic Dynamics
• Substructures in hydrodynamical cluster simulations
• The subhalo populations of LCDM dark haloes
• DarkSide-20k: A 20 Tonne Two-Phase LAr TPC for Direct Dark Matter Detection at LNGS
• The Effective Field Theory of Dark Matter Direct Detection
• Light Dark Matter Search with Ionization Signals in XENON1T
• Direct Detection of WIMP Dark Matter: Concepts and Status
• Physics reach of the XENON1T dark matter experiment
• The Milky Way's circular velocity curve between 4 and 14 kpc from APOGEE data
• Constraining the Milky Way potential with a 6-D phase-space map of the GD-1 stellar stream
• DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector
• Annual Modulation of Dark Matter: A Review
• Results on light dark matter particles with a low-threshold CRESST-II detector
• Milky Way Satellite Census. III. Constraints on Dark Matter Properties from Observations of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies
• Non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter direct detection
• The RAVE survey: the Galactic escape speed and the mass of the Milky Way
• The Cosmology of Atomic Dark Matter
• Double-Disk Dark Matter
• DarkSide-50 532-day Dark Matter Search with Low-Radioactivity Argon
• Universal structure of dark matter haloes over a mass range of 20 orders of magnitude
• Searching for low-mass dark matter particles with a massive Ge bolometer operated above-ground
• Low-Mass Dark Matter Search with CDMSlite
• The flattening of the concentration-mass relation towards low halo masses and its implications for the annihilation signal boost
• The SAGA Survey. II. Building a Statistical Sample of Satellite Systems around Milky Way-like Galaxies
• Characterization of subhalo structural properties and implications for dark matter annihilation signals
• Constraints on Dark Matter Microphysics from the Milky Way Satellite Population
• Model Independent Form Factors for Spin Independent Neutralino-Nucleon Scattering from Elastic Electron Scattering Data
• Nuclear Shell Model Calculations of Neutralino-Nucleus Cross Sections for Silicon 29 and Germanium 73
• Scattering properties of dark atoms and molecules
• Solving the small-scale structure puzzles with dissipative dark matter
• Dark Matter Constraints from a Unified Analysis of Strong Gravitational Lenses and Milky Way Satellite Galaxies
• Results of Dark Matter Search using the Full PandaX-II Exposure
• The Subhalo Mass Function and Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter
• Design and Construction of the DEAP-3600 Dark Matter Detector
• Constraining a Thin Dark Matter Disk with Gaia
• Using Gaia DR2 to Constrain Local Dark Matter Density and Thin Dark Disk
• Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter and Solar Neutrinos via Color Center Production in Crystals
• 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
• Astrophysical uncertainties on the local dark matter distribution and direct detection experiments
• Modeling evolution of dark matter substructure and annihilation boost
• Detection of sub-GeV Dark Matter and Solar Neutrinos via Chemical-Bond Breaking
• Directional Detection of Dark Matter using Spectroscopy of Crystal Defects
• Nuclear spin structure in dark matter search: The finite momentum transfer limit
• Constraints on low-mass WIMPs from the EDELWEISS-III dark matter search
• Assessing the discovery potential of directional detection of Dark Matter
• A Dark Matter Hurricane: Measuring the S1 Stream with Dark Matter Detectors
• 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
• Direct detection of primordial black hole relics as dark matter
• Halo Substructure Boosts to the Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation
• Real time description of fission
• Collapsed Dark Matter Structures
• Can we overcome the neutrino floor at high masses?
• Bounds on velocity-dependent dark matter-proton scattering from Milky Way satellite abundance
• Response of Mica to Weakly Interacting Massive Particles
• Dark Catalysis
• Weighing the Galactic disk using phase-space spirals II. Most stringent constraints to a thin dark disk using Gaia EDR3
• Paleo-detectors: Searching for Dark Matter with Ancient Minerals
• Dark Matter Microhalos From Simplified Models
• Searching for Dark Matter with Paleo-Detectors
• Cooling in a Dissipative Dark Sector
• Updated Kinematic Constraints on a Dark Disk
• Measuring the local matter density using Gaia DR2
• Search for Magnetic Monopoles Trapped in Matter
• Constraining the primordial magnetic field with dwarf galaxy simulations
• Etching Plastic Searches for Dark Matter
• Interstellar Gas and a Dark Disk
• Digging for Dark Matter: Spectral Analysis and Discovery Potential of Paleo-Detectors
• Ultra-Heavy Dark Matter Search with Electron Microscopy of Geological Quartz
• Constraints on the epoch of dark matter formation from Milky Way satellites
• Uncertainties in Direct Dark Matter Detection in Light of Gaia's Escape Velocity Measurements
• Implications of the Gaia Sausage for Dark Matter Nuclear Interactions
• Weighing the Galactic disk in sub-regions of the solar neighbourhood using Gaia DR2
• Paleo-Detectors for Galactic Supernova Neutrinos
• A Density Spike on Astrophysical Scales from an N-Field Waterfall Transition
• Exploring extensions to the standard cosmological model and the impact of baryons on small scales
• Unique Signature of Dark Matter in Ancient Mica
• Nuclear Tracks from Cold Dark Matter Interactions in Mineral Crystals: A Computational Study
• Measuring Changes in the Atmospheric Neutrino Rate Over Gigayear Timescales
• Impact of substructure on local dark matter searches
• Comments on "Limits on Dark Matter Using Ancient Mica"
• A counter-top search for macroscopic dark matter
• New Projections for Dark Matter Searches with Paleo-Detectors
• Constraints on Exotic Heavily Ionizing Particles from the Geological Abundance of Fullerenes
• 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