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XENON Collaboration(Aprile, E. et al), & Orrigo, S. E. A. (2014). Conceptual design and simulation of a water Cherenkov muon veto for the XENON1T experiment. J. Instrum., 9, P11006–20pp.
Abstract: XENON is a dark matter direct detection project, consisting of a time projection chamber (TPC) filled with liquid xenon as detection medium. The construction of the next generation detector, XENON1T, is presently taking place at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. It aims at a sensitivity to spin-independent cross sections of 2.10(47) cm(2) for WIMP masses around 50 GeV/c(2), which requires a background reduction by two orders of magnitude compared to XENON100, the current generation detector. An active system that is able to tag muons and muon-induced backgrounds is critical for this goal. A water Cherenkov detector of similar to 10m height and diameter has been therefore developed, equipped with 8 inch photomultipliers and cladded by a reflective foil. We present the design and optimization study for this detector, which has been carried out with a series of Monte Carlo simulations. The muon veto will reach very high detection efficiencies for muons (> 99.5%) and showers of secondary particles from muon interactions in the rock (> 70%). Similar efficiencies will be obtained for XENONnT, the upgrade of XENON1T, which will later improve the WIMP sensitivity by another order of magnitude. With the Cherenkov water shield studied here, the background from muon-induced neutrons in XENON1T is negligible.
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Lattanzi, M., Lineros, R. A., & Taoso, M. (2014). Connecting neutrino physics with dark matter. New J. Phys., 16, 125012–19pp.
Abstract: The origin of neutrino masses and the nature of dark matter are two in most pressing open questions in modern astro-particle physics. We consider here the possibility that these two problems are related, and review some theoretical scenarios which offer common solutions. A simple possibility is that the dark matter particle emerges in minimal realizations of the seesaw mechanism, as in the majoron and sterile neutrino scenarios. We present the theoretical motivation for both models and discuss their phenomenology, confronting the predictions of these scenarios with cosmological and astrophysical observations. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the stability of dark matter originates from a flavor symmetry of the leptonic sector. We review a proposal based on an A(4) flavor symmetry.
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NEXT Collaboration(Renner, J. et al), Alvarez, V., Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., Ferrario, P., et al. (2015). Ionization and scintillation of nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 793, 62–74.
Abstract: Ionization and scintillation produced by nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon at approximately 14 bar have been simultaneously observed in an electroluminescent time projection chamber. Neutrons from radioisotope a-Be neutron sources were used to induce xenon nuclear recoils, and the observed recoil spectra were compared to a detailed Monte Carlo employing estimated ionization and scintillation yields for nuclear recoils. The ability to discriminate between electronic and nuclear recoils using the ratio of ionization to primary scintillation is demonstrated. These results encourage further investigation on the use of xenon in the gas phase as a detector medium in dark matter direct detection experiments.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Sanchez-Losa, A., Tönnis, C., et al. (2016). Limits on dark matter annihilation in the sun using the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Phys. Lett. B, 759, 69–74.
Abstract: A search for muon neutrinos originating from dark matter annihilations in the Sun is performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. In order to obtain the best possible sensitivities to dark matter signals, an optimisation of the event selection criteria is performed taking into account the background of atmospheric muons, atmospheric neutrinos and the energy spectra of the expected neutrino signals. No significant excess over the background is observed and 90% C.L. upper limits on the neutrino flux, the spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections are derived for WIMP masses ranging from 50 GeV to 5 TeV for the annihilation channels WIMP + WIMP -> b (b) over bar, W+W- and tau(+)tau(-).
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Bonilla, C., Ma, E., Peinado, E., & Valle, J. W. F. (2016). Two-loop Dirac neutrino mass and WIMP dark matter. Phys. Lett. B, 762, 214–218.
Abstract: We propose a “scotogenic” mechanism relating small neutrino mass and cosmological dark matter. Neutrinos are Dirac fermions with masses arising only in two-loop order through the sector responsible for dark matter. Two triality symmetries ensure both dark matter stability and strict lepton number conservation at higher orders. A global spontaneously broken U(1) symmetry leads to a physical Diraconthat induces invisible Higgs decays which add up to the Higgs to dark matter mode. This enhances sensitivities to spin-independent WIMP dark matter search below m(h)/2.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., Tönnis, C., et al. (2017). Results from the search for dark matter in the Milky Way with 9 years of data of the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Phys. Lett. B, 769, 249–254.
Abstract: Using data recorded with the ANTARES telescope from 2007 to 2015, a new search for dark matter annihilation in the Milky Way has been performed. Three halo models and five annihilation channels, WIMP + WIMP -> b (b) over bar, W+W-, tau(+)tau(-), mu(+)mu(-) and v (v) over bar, with WIMP masses ranging from 50 2 GeV/C-2 to 100 Tev/C-2, were considered. No excess over the expected background was found, and limits on the thermally averaged annihilation cross-section were set.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., Tönnis, C., et al. (2017). Search for dark matter annihilation in the earth using the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Phys. Dark Universe, 16, 41–48.
Abstract: A search for a neutrino signal from WIMP pair annihilations in the centre of the Earth has been performed with the data collected with the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. The event selection criteria have been developed and tuned to maximise the sensitivity of the experiment to such a neutrino signal. No significant excess of neutrinos over the expected background has been observed. Upper limits at 90% C.L. on the WIMP annihilation rate in the Earth and the spin independent scattering cross-section of WIMPs to nucleons sigma(SI)(p) were calculated for WIMP pair annihilations into either iota(+) iota(-), W+W-, b (b) over bar or the non-SUSY v mu(v) over bar as a function of the WIMP mass (between 25 GeV/c(2) and 1000 GeV/c(2)) and as a function of the thermally averaged annihilation cross section times velocity <sigma A(v)>(Earth) of the WIMPs in the centre of the Earth. For masses of the WIMP close to the mass of iron nuclei (50 GeV/c(2)), the obtained limits on sigma(SI)(p) are more stringent than those obtained by other indirect searches.
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Cai, Y., Herrero-Garcia, J., Schmidt, M. A., Vicente, A., & Volkas, R. R. (2017). From the Trees to the Forest: A Review of Radiative Neutrino Mass Models. Front. Physics, 5, 63–56pp.
Abstract: A plausible explanation for the lightness of neutrino masses is that neutrinos are massless at tree level, with their mass (typically Majorana) being generated radiatively at one or more loops. The new couplings, together with the suppression coming from the loop factors, imply that the new degrees of freedom cannot be too heavy (they are typically at the TeV scale). Therefore, in these models there are no large mass hierarchies and they can be tested using different searches, making their detailed phenomenological study very appealing. In particular, the new particles can be searched for at colliders and generically induce signals in lepton-flavor and lepton-number violating processes (in the case of Majorana neutrinos), which are not independent from reproducing correctly the neutrino masses and mixings. The main focus of the review is on Majorana neutrinos. We order the allowed theory space from three different perspectives: (i) using an effective operator approach to lepton number violation, (ii) by the number of loops at which the Weinberg operator is generated, (iii) within a given loop order, by the possible irreducible topologies. We also discuss in more detail some popular radiative models which involve qualitatively different features, revisiting their most important phenomenological implications. Finally, we list some promising avenues to pursue.
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Gomez, M. E., Lola, S., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Shafi, Q. (2018). Confronting SUSY GUT With Dark Matter, Sparticle Spectroscopy and Muon (g – 2). Front. Physics, 6, 127–9pp.
Abstract: We explore the implications of LHC and cold dark matter searches for supersymmetric particle mass spectra in two different grand unified models with left-right symmetry, SO(10) and SU(4)(c) x SU(2)(L) x SU(2)(R) (4-2-2). We identify characteristic differences between the two scenarios, which imply distinct correlations between experimental measurements and the particular structure of the GUT group. The gauge structure of 4-2-2 enhances significantly the allowed parameter space as compared to SO(10), giving rise to a variety of coannihilation scenarios compatible with the LHC data, LSP dark matter and the ongoing muon g-2 experiment.
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Bandyopadhyay, P., Chun, E. J., Mandal, R., & Queiroz, F. S. (2019). Scrutinizing right-handed neutrino portal dark matter with Yukawa effect. Phys. Lett. B, 788, 530–534.
Abstract: Analyzing the neutrino Yukawa effect in the freeze-out process of a generic dark matter candidate with right-handed neutrino portal, we identify the parameter regions satisfying the observed dark matter relic density as well as the current Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. limits and the future CTA reach on gamma-ray signals. In this scenario the dark matter couples to the Higgs boson at one-loop level and thus could be detected by spin-independent nucleonic scattering for a reasonable range of the relevant parameters.
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