QUEST-DMC superfluid ${}^3$He detector for sub-GeV dark matter

Abstract

The focus of dark matter searches to date has been on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in the GeV/$c^2$-TeV/$c^2$ mass range. The direct, indirect and collider searches in this mass range have been extensive but ultimately unsuccessful, providing a strong motivation for widening the search outside this range. Here we describe a new concept for a dark matter experiment, employing superfluid ${}^3$He as a detector for dark matter that is close to the mass of the proton, of order 1 GeV/$c^2$. The QUEST-DMC detector concept is based on quasiparticle detection in a bolometer cell by a nanomechanical resonator. In this paper we develop the energy measurement methodology and detector response model, simulate candidate dark matter signals and expected background interactions, and calculate the sensitivity of such a detector. We project that such a detector can reach sub-eV nuclear recoil energy threshold, opening up new windows on the parameter space of both spin-dependent and spin-independent interactions of light dark matter candidates.

17 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Published in EPJ-C

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Maximising CP Violation in Naturally Aligned Two-Higgs Doublet Models
• QUEST-DMC: Background Modelling and Resulting Heat Deposit for a Superfluid Helium-3 Bolometer
• Dark Matter Attenuation Effects: Sensitivity Ceilings for Spin-Dependent and Spin-Independent Interactions
• Nanofluidic platform for studying the first-order phase transitions in superfluid helium-3
• Dark Matter EFT Landscape Probed by QUEST-DMC
• Characterization of FBK NUV-HD-Cryo SiPMs near LHe temperature
• Drag on Cylinders Moving in Superfluid 3He-B as the Dimension Spans the Coherence Length
• Signal partitioning in superfluid ${}^4$He: a Monte Carlo approach
• On-chip quantum confinement refrigeration overcoming electron-phonon heat leaks
• Liquid ${}^3$He Detectors for Neutrons
• Characterisation of silicon photomultipliers in a dilution refrigerator down to 9.4 mK towards a cryogenic cosmic-ray muon veto system