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Ultraheavy dark matter search with electron microscopy of geological quartz |
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American Physical Society |
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10.1103/physrevd.104.015041 |
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| Abstract |
Self-interactions within the dark sector could clump dark matter into heavy composite states with low number density, leading to a highly suppressed event rate in existing direct detection experiments. However, the large interaction cross section between such ultraheavy dark matter (UHDM) and standard model matter results in a distinctive and compelling signature; long, straight damage tracks as they pass through and scatter with matter. In this work, we propose using geologically old quartz samples as largeexposure detectors for UHDM. We describe a high-resolution readout method based on electron microscopy, characterize the most favorable geological samples for this approach, and study its reach in a simple model of the dark sector. The advantage of this search strategy is twofold; the age of geological quartz compensates for the low number density of ultraheavy composite dark matter, and the distinct geometry of the damage track serves as a high-fidelity background rejection tool. |
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Physical Review D, 104(1), p. 1-10 |
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Attribution 4.0 International |
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