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Title: Magnetic bubble chambers and sub-GeV dark matter direct detection

Journal Article · · Physical Review D
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Physics, Hansen Experimental Physics Lab. (HEPL)
  3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Theoretical Physics Group; Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). Kavli Inst. for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI)
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics

We propose a new application of single molecule magnet crystals: their use as “magnetic bubble chambers” for the direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter. The spins in these macroscopic crystals effectively act as independent nanoscale magnets. When antialigned with an external magnetic field they form metastable states with a relaxation time that can be very long at sufficiently low temperatures. The Zeeman energy stored in this system can be released through localized heating, caused for example by the scattering or absorption of dark matter, resulting in a spin avalanche (or “magnetic deflagration”) that amplifies the effects of the initial heat deposit, enabling detection. Much like the temperature and pressure in a conventional bubble chamber, the temperature and external magnetic field set the detection threshold for a single molecule magnet crystal. Here, we discuss this detector concept for dark matter detection and propose ways to ameliorate backgrounds. If successfully developed, this detector concept can search for hidden photon dark matter in the meV–eV mass range with sensitivities exceeding current bounds by several orders of magnitude.

Research Organization:
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0009841; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1418499
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1355078
Journal Information:
Physical Review D, Vol. 95, Issue 9; ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 45 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (16)

Direct detection of strongly interacting sub-GeV dark matter via electron recoils journal September 2019
Potentialities of a low-energy detector based on He 4 evaporation to observe atomic effects in coherent neutrino scattering and physics perspectives journal October 2019
Reviving millicharged dark matter for 21-cm cosmology journal December 2019
New constraints and discovery potential of sub-GeV dark matter with xenon detectors journal August 2017
Direct detection of axion-like particles in Bismuth-based topological insulators journal August 2018
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New constraints and discovery potential of sub-GeV dark matter with xenon detectors text January 2017
New Constraints and Prospects for sub-GeV Dark Matter Scattering off Electrons in Xenon text January 2017
Impact of Resonance on Thermal Targets for Invisible Dark Photon Searches text January 2017
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Detecting Dark Blobs text January 2018
Directional Detection of Light Dark Matter with Polar Materials text January 2018
Parametric Resonance Production of Ultralight Vector Dark Matter text January 2018
Direct Detection of Strongly Interacting Sub-GeV Dark Matter via Electron Recoils text January 2019
On the relation between Migdal effect and dark matter-electron scattering in isolated atoms and semiconductors text January 2019

Figures / Tables (9)


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