Light dark matter in the context of dark sector theories is an attractive candidate to make up the bulk of the mass of our Universe. We explore here the possibility of using a low-pressure, ...negative-ion, time-projection-chamber detector to search for light dark matter behind the beam dump of an electron accelerator. The sensitivity of a 10-m long detector is several orders of magnitude better than existing limits. This sensitivity includes regions of parameter space where light dark matter is predicted to have a required relic density consistent with measured dark matter density. Backgrounds at shallow depth will need to be considered carefully. However, several signatures exist, including a powerful directional signature, which will allow a detection even in the presence of backgrounds.
We present results from a 54.7 live-day shielded run of the DRIFT-IId detector, the world's most sensitive, directional, dark matter detector. Several improvements were made relative to our previous ...work including a lower threshold for detection, a more robust analysis and a tenfold improvement in our gamma rejection factor. After analysis, no events remain in our fiducial region leading to an exclusion curve for spin-dependent WIMP-proton interactions which reaches 0.28pb at 100GeV/c2, a fourfold improvement on our previous work. We also present results from a 45.4 live-day unshielded run of the DRIFT-IId detector during which 14 nuclear recoil-like events were observed. We demonstrate that the observed nuclear recoil rate of 0.31 ± 0.08 events per day is consistent with detection of ambient, fast neutrons emanating from the walls of the Boulby Underground Science Facility.
► DRIFT is only one of a handful of directional dark matter detectors. ► A method of rejecting Radon Progeny Recoils, DRIFT’s main background, is discussed. ► Additionally DRIFT-IId was found to run ...stably with a mixture of CS2 and CF4. ► DRIFT’s sensitivity is orders of magnitude better than other directional detectors.
Data are presented from the DRIFT-IId detector operated in the Boulby Underground Science Facility in England. A 0.8m3 fiducial volume, containing partial pressures of 30Torr CS2 and 10Torr CF4, was exposed for a duration of 47.4 live-time days with sufficient passive shielding to provide a neutron free environment within the detector. The nuclear recoil events seen are consistent with a remaining low-level background from the decay of radon daughters attached to the central cathode of the detector. However, charge from such events must drift across the entire width of the detector, and thus display large diffusion upon reaching the readout planes of the device. Exploiting this feature, it is shown to be possible to reject energy depositions from these Radon Progeny Recoil events while still retaining sensitivity to fiducial-volume nuclear recoil events. The response of the detector is then interpreted, using the F nuclei content of the gas, in terms of sensitivity to proton spin-dependent WIMP–nucleon interactions, displaying a minimum in sensitivity cross section at 1.8pb for a WIMP mass of 100GeV/c2. This sensitivity was achieved without compromising the direction sensitivity of DRIFT.
The measurement of the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a compelling but technologically challenging strategy to provide an unambiguous signature of the detection of Galactic dark matter. ...Most directional detectors aim to reconstruct the dark-matter-induced nuclear recoil tracks, either in gas or solid targets. The main challenge with directional detection is the need for high spatial resolution over large volumes, which puts strong requirements on the readout technologies. In this paper we review the various detector readout technologies used by directional detectors. In particular, we summarize the challenges, advantages and drawbacks of each approach, and discuss future prospects for these technologies.
The addition of O2 to gas mixtures in time projection chambers containing CS2 has recently been shown to produce multiple negative ions that travel at slightly different velocities. This allows a ...measurement of the absolute position of ionising events in the z (drift) direction. In this work, we apply the z-fiducialisation technique to a directional dark matter search. We present results from a 46.3 live-day source-free exposure of the DRIFT-IId detector run in this new mode. With full-volume fiducialisation, we have achieved the first background-free operation of a directional detector. The resulting exclusion curve for spin-dependent WIMP-proton interactions reaches 1.1 pb at 100 GeV/c2, a factor of 2 better than our previous work. We describe the automated analysis used here, and argue that detector upgrades, implemented after the acquisition of these data, will bring an additional factor of ≳3 improvement in the near future.
We present the first detailed simulations of the so-called head–tail effect of nuclear recoils in gas, the presence of which is vital to directional WIMP dark matter searches. We include comparison ...simulations of the range and straggling of carbon, sulphur and fluorine recoils in low pressure gas. However, the prime focus is a detailed investigation of carbon and sulphur recoils in 40
Torr negative ion carbon disulfide, a gas proposed for use in large scale directional detectors. The focus is to determine whether the location of the majority of the ionization charge released and observed from a recoil track in carbon disulfide is at the beginning (tail) of the track, at the end (head) or evenly distributed. We used the SRIM simulation program, together with a purpose-written Monte Carlo generator to model production of ionizing pairs, diffusion and basic readout geometries relevant to potential real detector scenarios, such as under development for the DRIFT experiment. The results indicate the likely existence of a head–tail track asymmetry but with a magnitude critically influenced by several competing factors, notably the
W-value assumed, the drift distance and diffusion, and the recoil energy.
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