291 research outputs found
Renormalization of the Spin-dependent WIMP scattering off nuclei
We study the amplitude for the spin-dependent WIMP scattering off nuclei by
including the leading long-range two-body currents in the most important
isovector contribution. We show that such effects are essentially independent
of the target nucleus and, as a result, they can be treated as a mere
renormalization of the effective nucleon cross section or, equivalently, of the
corresponding effective coupling with values around 25%.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1211.321
Predicted modulated differential rates for direct WIMP searches at low energy transfers
The differential event rate for direct detection of dark matter, both the
time averaged and the modulated one due to the motion of the Earth, are
discussed. The calculations focus on relatively light cold dark matter
candidates (WIMP) and low energy transfers. It is shown that for sufficiently
light WIMPs the extraction of relatively large nucleon cross sections is
possible. Furthermore for some WIMP masses the modulation amplitude may change
sign, meaning that, in such a case, the maximum rate may occur six months later
than naively expected. This effect can be exploited to yield information about
the mass of the dark matter candidate, if and when the observation of the
modulation of the event rate is established.Comment: 16 pages, 22 figures; references adde
SUSY Dark Matter in the Universe- Theoretical Direct Detection Rates
Exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy or cosmological constant
seem to dominate in the Universe. An even higher density of such matter seems
to be gravitationally trapped in the Galaxy. Thus its direct detection is
central to particle physics and cosmology. Current supersymmetric models
provide a natural dark matter candidate which is the lightest supersymmetric
particle (LSP). Such models combined with fairly well understood physics like
the quark substructure of the nucleon and the nuclear structure (form factor
and/or spin response function), permit the evaluation of the event rate for
LSP-nucleus elastic scattering. The thus obtained event rates are, however,
very low or even undetectable. So it is imperative to exploit the modulation
effect, i.e. the dependence of the event rate on the earth's annual motion.
Also it is useful to consider the directional rate, i.e its dependence on the
direction of the recoiling nucleus. In this paper we study such a modulation
effect both in non directional and directional experiments. We calculate both
the differential and the total rates using both isothermal, symmetric as well
as only axially asymmetric, and non isothermal, due to caustic rings, velocity
distributions. We find that in the symmetric case the modulation amplitude is
small. The same is true for the case of caustic rings. The inclusion of
asymmetry, with a realistic enhanced velocity dispersion in the galactocentric
direction, yields an enhanced modulation effect, especially in directional
experiments.Comment: 17 LATEX pages, 1 table and 6 ps figures include
Direct Detection Rates of Dark Matter Coupled to Dark Energy
We investigate the effect of a coupling between dark matter and dark energy
on the rates for the direct detection of dark matter. The magnitude of the
effect depends on the strength of this new interaction relative to
gravity. The resulting isothermal velocity distribution for dark matter in
galaxy halos is still Maxwell-Boltzmann (M-B), but the characteristic velocity
and the escape velocity are increased by . We adopt a
phenomenological approach and consider values of near unity. For such
values we find that: (i) The (time averaged) event rate increases for light
WIMPs, while it is somewhat reduced for WIMP masses larger than 100 GeV. (ii)
The time dependence of the rate arising from the modulation amplitude is
decreased compared to the standard M-B velocity distribution. (iii) The average
and maximum WIMP energy increase proportionally to , which, for
sufficiently massive WIMPs, allows the possibility of designing experiments
measuring rays following nuclear de-excitation.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Theoretical Directional and Modulated Rates for Direct SUSY Dark Matter Detection
Exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant)
seem to dominate in the flat Universe. Thus direct dark matter detection is
central to particle physics and cosmology. Supersymmetry provides a natural
dark matter candidate, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). Furthermore
from the knowledge of the density and velocity distribution of the LSP, the
quark substructure of the nucleon and the nuclear structure (form factor and/or
spin response function), one is able to evaluate the event rate for LSP-nucleus
elastic scattering. The thus obtained event rates are, however, very low. So it
is imperative to exploit the two signatures of the reaction, namely the
modulation effect, i.e. the dependence of the event rate on the Earth's motion,
and the directional asymmetry, i.e. the dependence of the rate on the the
relative angle between the direction of the recoiling nucleus and the sun's
velocity. These two signatures are studied in this paper employing various
velocity distributions and a supersymmetric model with universal boundary
conditions at large tan(beta).Comment: 11 LATEX pages, 1 table and 4 ps figures included. Paper presented in
DARK2002, Fourth Heidelberg International Conference on Dark Matter in Astro-
and Particle Physics, Cape Town, South Africa, 4-9 February, 2002, to appear
in the proceedings (to be published by Springer Verlag
On the keV sterile neutrino search in electron capture
A joint effort of cryogenic microcalorimetry (CM) and high-precision
Penning-trap mass spectrometry (PT-MS) in investigating atomic orbital electron
capture (EC) can shed light on the possible existence of heavy sterile
neutrinos with masses from 0.5 to 100 keV. Sterile neutrinos are expected to
perturb the shape of the atomic de-excitation spectrum measured by CM after a
capture of the atomic orbital electrons by a nucleus. This effect should be
observable in the ratios of the capture probabilities from different orbits.
The sensitivity of the ratio values to the contribution of sterile neutrinos
strongly depends on how accurately the mass difference between the parent and
the daughter nuclides of EC-transitions can be measured by, e.g., PT-MS. A
comparison of such probability ratios in different isotopes of a certain
chemical element allows one to exclude many systematic uncertainties and thus
could make feasible a determination of the contribution of sterile neutrinos on
a level below 1%. Several electron capture transitions suitable for such
measurements are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 2 table
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