1,299 research outputs found
APEX: A Prime EXperiment at Jefferson Lab
APEX is an experiment at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
(JLab) in Virginia, USA, that searches for a new gauge boson () with
sub-GeV mass and coupling to ordinary matter of . Electrons impinge upon a fixed target of high-Z material. An
is produced via a process analogous to photon bremsstrahlung,
decaying to an pair. A test run was held in July of 2010, covering
= 175 to 250 MeV and couplings g^\prime/e \; \textgreater \;
10^{-3}. A full run is approved and will cover 65 to 525
MeV and g^\prime/e \; \textgreater \; 2.3 \times10^{-4}.Comment: Contributed to the 8th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs,
Chicago, July 18-22, 2012. 4 pages, 4 figure
Searching for Dark Absorption with Direct Detection Experiments
We consider the absorption by bound electrons of dark matter in the form of
dark photons and axion-like particles, as well as of dark photons from the Sun,
in current and next-generation direct detection experiments. Experiments
sensitive to electron recoils can detect such particles with masses between a
few eV to more than 10 keV. For dark photon dark matter, we update a previous
bound based on XENON10 data and derive new bounds based on data from XENON100
and CDMSlite. We find these experiments to disfavor previously allowed
parameter space. Moreover, we derive sensitivity projections for SuperCDMS at
SNOLAB for silicon and germanium targets, as well as for various possible
experiments with scintillating targets (cesium iodide, sodium iodide, and
gallium arsenide). The projected sensitivity can probe large new regions of
parameter space. For axion-like particles, the same current direction detection
data improves on previously known direct-detection constraints but does not
bound new parameter space beyond known stellar cooling bounds. However,
projected sensitivities of the upcoming SuperCDMS SNOLAB using germanium can go
beyond these and even probe parameter space consistent with possible hints from
the white dwarf luminosity function. We find similar results for dark photons
from the sun. For all cases, direct-detection experiments can have
unprecedented sensitivity to dark-sector particles.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, Figs. 3 and 4 fixed, appendices adde
First Direct Detection Limits on sub-GeV Dark Matter from XENON10
The first direct detection limits on dark matter in the MeV to GeV mass range
are presented, using XENON10 data. Such light dark matter can scatter with
electrons, causing ionization of atoms in a detector target material and
leading to single- or few-electron events. We use 15 kg-days of data acquired
in 2006 to set limits on the dark-matter-electron scattering cross section. The
strongest bound is obtained at 100 MeV where sigma_e < 3 x 10^{-38} cm^2 at 90%
CL, while dark matter masses between 20 MeV and 1 GeV are bounded by sigma_e <
10^{-37} cm^2 at 90% CL. This analysis provides a first proof-of-principle that
direct detection experiments can be sensitive to dark matter candidates with
masses well below the GeV scale.Comment: Submitted to PR
Bounds on Cross-sections and Lifetimes for Dark Matter Annihilation and Decay into Charged Leptons from Gamma-ray Observations of Dwarf Galaxies
We provide conservative bounds on the dark matter cross-section and lifetime
from final state radiation produced by annihilation or decay into charged
leptons, either directly or via an intermediate particle . Our analysis
utilizes the experimental gamma-ray flux upper limits from four Milky Way dwarf
satellites: HESS observations of Sagittarius and VERITAS observations of Draco,
Ursa Minor, and Willman 1. Using 90% confidence level lower limits on the
integrals over the dark matter distributions, we find that these constraints
are largely unable to rule out dark matter annihilations or decays as an
explanation of the PAMELA and ATIC/PPB-BETS excesses. However, if there is an
additional Sommerfeld enhancement in dwarfs, which have a velocity dispersion
~10 to 20 times lower than that of the local Galactic halo, then the
cross-sections for dark matter annihilating through 's required to
explain the excesses are very close to the cross-section upper bounds from
Willman 1. Dark matter annihilation directly into 's is also marginally
ruled out by Willman 1 as an explanation of the excesses, and the required
cross-section is only a factor of a few below the upper bound from Draco.
Finally, we make predictions for the gamma-ray flux expected from the dwarf
galaxy Segue 1 for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We find that for a
sizeable fraction of the parameter space in which dark matter annihilation into
charged leptons explains the PAMELA excess, Fermi has good prospects for
detecting a gamma-ray signal from Segue 1 after one year of observation.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. References added. Final published versio
An Electron Fixed Target Experiment to Search for a New Vector Boson A' Decaying to e+e-
We describe an experiment to search for a new vector boson A' with weak
coupling alpha' > 6 x 10^{-8} alpha to electrons (alpha=e^2/4pi) in the mass
range 65 MeV < m_A' < 550 MeV. New vector bosons with such small couplings
arise naturally from a small kinetic mixing of the "dark photon" A' with the
photon -- one of the very few ways in which new forces can couple to the
Standard Model -- and have received considerable attention as an explanation of
various dark matter related anomalies. A' bosons are produced by radiation off
an electron beam, and could appear as narrow resonances with small production
cross-section in the trident e+e- spectrum. We summarize the experimental
approach described in a proposal submitted to Jefferson Laboratory's PAC35,
PR-10-009. This experiment, the A' Experiment (APEX), uses the electron beam of
the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at Jefferson Laboratory
(CEBAF) at energies of ~1-4 GeV incident on 0.5-10% radiation length Tungsten
wire mesh targets, and measures the resulting e+e- pairs to search for the A'
using the High Resolution Spectrometer and the septum magnet in Hall A. With a
~1 month run, APEX will achieve very good sensitivity because the statistics of
e+e- pairs will be ~10,000 times larger in the explored mass range than any
previous search for the A' boson. These statistics and the excellent mass
resolution of the spectrometers allow sensitivity to alpha'/alpha one to three
orders of magnitude below current limits, in a region of parameter space of
great theoretical and phenomenological interest. Similar experiments could also
be performed at other facilities, such as the Mainz Microtron.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 2 table
Abdominaler Schmerz
Zusammenfassung: Abdominalschmerzen können Ausdruck einer Vielzahl intra- und extraabdomineller Erkrankungen sein. Angesichts dieses breiten ätiologischen Spektrums gilt es, im Initialstadium der Diagnostik zielgerichtet vorzugehen, um ohne Zeitverzug die Ursache und damit letzlich die Dringlichkeit weitergehender Maßnahmen zu bestimmen. Ziel dieser Evaluation ist eine initiale risikostratifizierte Triagierung des Patienten. Im Gegensatz zu somatischen Ursachen abdominalen Schmerzes ist eine derartige kausale Therapie bei funktionellen Erkrankungen des Gastrointestinaltraktes zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt nur sehr begrenzt möglich, sodass hierbei der Fokus auf eine bedarfs- und symptomadaptierte Behandlung gelegt werden sol
Light dark forces at flavor factories
SuperB experiment could represent an ideal environment to test a new U (1)
symmetry related to light dark forces candidates. A promising discovery channel
is represented by the resonant production of a boson U, followed by its decay
into lepton pairs. Beyond approximations adopted in the literature, an exact
tree level calculation of the radiative processes and corresponding QED
backgrounds is performed, including also the most important higher-order
corrections. The calculation is implemented in a release of the generator
BabaYaga@NLO useful for data analysis and interpretation. The distinct features
of U boson production are shown and the statistical significance is analysed
Dark Matter and Pseudo-flat Directions in Weakly Coupled SUSY Breaking Sectors
We consider candidates for dark matter in models of gauge mediated
supersymmetry breaking, in which the supersymmetry breaking sector is weakly
coupled and calculable. Such models typically contain classically flat
directions, that receive one-loop masses of a few TeV. These pseudo-flat
directions provide a new mechanism to account for the cold dark matter relic
abundance. We discuss also the possibility of heavy gravitino dark matter in
such models.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures. v2: comments, refs adde
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