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Published March 7, 2024 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Search for Daily Modulation of MeV Dark Matter Signals with DAMIC-M

Creators

  • 1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • 2. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica
  • 3. University of Chicago
  • 4. Universidad de Cantabria
  • 5. University of Washington
  • 6. Université Grenoble-Alpes
  • 7. Sorbonne Université
  • 8. Université Paris-Saclay
  • 9. Universität Zürich Physik Institut
  • 10. SNOLAB

Description

Dark matter (DM) particles with sufficiently large cross sections may scatter as they travel through Earth's bulk. The corresponding changes in the DM flux give rise to a characteristic daily modulation signal in detectors sensitive to DM-electron interactions. Here, we report results obtained from the first underground operation of the DAMIC-M prototype detector searching for such a signal from DM with MeV-scale mass. A model-independent analysis finds no modulation in the rate of $1  e^−$ events with sidereal period, where a DM signal would appear. We then use these data to place exclusion limits on DM in the mass range $[0.53,2.7]  MeV/c^2$ interacting with electrons via a dark photon mediator. Taking advantage of the time-dependent signal we improve by $∼2$ orders of magnitude on our previous limit obtained from the total rate of $1  e^−$ events, using the same dataset. This daily modulation search represents the current strongest limit on DM-electron scattering via ultralight mediators for DM masses around $1  MeV/c^2$.

Notes

Due to the large number of authors, only the first 20 and the University of Chicago authors are included on the above author list. Please download the article for the complete list of authors.

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PhysRevLett.132.101006.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.101006
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:14240

Funding

European Research Council
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
National Science Foundation
PHY-1812654
National Science Foundation
PHY-2110585
University of Chicago
Kavli Foundation
MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033
PID2019–109829 GB-I00
MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033
Ramón y Cajal Grant
European Union
Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica
PICT-2018-03069
Swiss National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
DE-AC02-05CH11231

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Physical Sciences Division
Department(s)
Enrico Fermi Institute
Center(s) or Institute(s)
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics