461 research outputs found
Nano-contact transfer with gold nanoparticles on PEG hydrogels and using wrinkled PDMS-stamps
In the present work, a soft lithographic process is used to create nanometer-sized line patterns of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) on PEG-based hydrogels. Hereby nanometer-sized wrinkles on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are first fabricated, then functionalized with amino-silane and subsequently coated with Au NPs. The Au NPs are electrostatically bound to the surface of the wrinkled PDMS. In the next step, these relatively loosely bound Au NPs are transferred to PEG based hydrogels by simple contacting, which we denote “nano-contact transfer”. Nano-patterned Au NPs lines on PEG hydrogels are thus achieved, which are of interesting potential in nano-photonics, biosensor applications (using SERS) and to control nanoscopic cell adhesion events.DFG, 325093850, Open Access Publizieren 2017 - 2018 / Technische Universität Berli
A new viable region of the inert doublet model
The inert doublet model, a minimal extension of the Standard Model by a
second Higgs doublet, is one of the simplest and most attractive scenarios that
can explain the dark matter. In this paper, we demonstrate the existence of a
new viable region of the inert doublet model featuring dark matter masses
between Mw and about 160 GeV. Along this previously overlooked region of the
parameter space, the correct relic density is obtained thanks to cancellations
between different diagrams contributing to dark matter annihilation into gauge
bosons (W+W- and ZZ). First, we explain how these cancellations come about and
show several examples illustrating the effect of the parameters of the model on
the cancellations themselves and on the predicted relic density. Then, we
perform a full scan of the new viable region and analyze it in detail by
projecting it onto several two-dimensional planes. Finally, the prospects for
the direct and the indirect detection of inert Higgs dark matter within this
new viable region are studied. We find that present direct detection bounds
already rule out a fraction of the new parameter space and that future direct
detection experiments, such as Xenon100, will easily probe the remaining part
in its entirety.Comment: 27 pages, 16 figure
Minimal supergravity sneutrino dark matter and inverse seesaw neutrino masses
We show that within the inverse seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino
masses minimal supergravity is more likely to have a sneutrino as the lightest
superparticle than the conventional neutralino. We also demonstrate that such
schemes naturally reconcile the small neutrino masses with the correct relic
sneutrino dark matter abundance and accessible direct detection rates in
nuclear recoil experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Towards detecting super-GeV dark matter via annihilation to neutrinos
The next generation of neutrino telescopes will feature unprecedented
sensitivities in the detection of neutrinos. Here we study the capabilities of
a large-scale neutrino telescope, like the fully-operating KM3NeT experiment in
the near future, for detecting dark matter annihilation signals from the
Galactic Centre. We consider both ORCA and ARCA detectors, covering dark matter
masses from a few GeV to 100 TeV. We obtain the sensitivities with a
maximum-likelihood analysis method and present them as upper limits in the
thermally averaged annihilation cross-section into Standard Model fermions. Our
projections show that the sensitivity of such a neutrino telescope can reach
the thermal relic line for and for few GeV, for the NFW dark matter density profile. This demonstrates
that ORCA- and ARCA-like detectors will be able to perform competitive dark
matter searches in a wide range of masses. The implications of these striking
projections are investigated in a few selected dark matter particle models,
where we show that neutrino telescopes are able to probe new parameter space
Light neutralino in the MSSM: An update with the latest LHC results
We discuss the scenario of light neutralino dark matter in the minimal
supersymmetric standard model, which is motivated by the results of some of the
direct detection experiments --- DAMA, CoGENT, and CRESST. We update our
previous analysis with the latest results of the LHC. We show that new LHC
constraints disfavour the parameter region that can reproduce the results of
DAMA and CoGENT.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the conference proceedings of TAUP
2011, Munich Germany, 5-9 September 201
Dark Matter Direct Detection with Non-Maxwellian Velocity Structure
The velocity distribution function of dark matter particles is expected to
show significant departures from a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. This can
have profound effects on the predicted dark matter - nucleon scattering rates
in direct detection experiments, especially for dark matter models in which the
scattering is sensitive to the high velocity tail of the distribution, such as
inelastic dark matter (iDM) or light (few GeV) dark matter (LDM), and for
experiments that require high energy recoil events, such as many directionally
sensitive experiments. Here we determine the velocity distribution functions
from two of the highest resolution numerical simulations of Galactic dark
matter structure (Via Lactea II and GHALO), and study the effects for these
scenarios. For directional detection, we find that the observed departures from
Maxwell-Boltzmann increase the contrast of the signal and change the typical
direction of incoming DM particles. For iDM, the expected signals at direct
detection experiments are changed dramatically: the annual modulation can be
enhanced by more than a factor two, and the relative rates of DAMA compared to
CDMS can change by an order of magnitude, while those compared to CRESST can
change by a factor of two. The spectrum of the signal can also change
dramatically, with many features arising due to substructure. For LDM the
spectral effects are smaller, but changes do arise that improve the
compatibility with existing experiments. We find that the phase of the
modulation can depend upon energy, which would help discriminate against
background should it be found.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figures, submitted to JCAP. Tables of g(v_min), the
integral of f(v)/v from v_min to infinity, derived from our simulations, are
available for download at http://astro.berkeley.edu/~mqk/dmdd
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