Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1780788 Physics of the Dark Universe 2012 18 Pages PDF
Abstract

Dark matter with mass below about a GeV is essentially unobservable in conventional direct detection experiments. However, newly proposed technology will allow the detection of single electron events in semiconductor materials with significantly lowered thresholds. This would allow detection of dark matter as light as an MeV in mass. Compared to other detection technologies, semiconductors allow enhanced sensitivity because of their low ionization energy around an eV. Such detectors would be particularly sensitive to dark matter with electric and magnetic dipole moments, with a reach many orders of magnitude beyond current bounds. Observable dipole moment interactions can be generated by new particles with masses as great as ∼103 TeV, providing a window to scales beyond the reach of current colliders.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Physics and Astronomy Astronomy and Astrophysics
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