arXiv subjects

Tien-Tien Yu

Publications and source records attributed to Tien-Tien Yu.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

SENSEI: First Direct-Detection Constraints on sub-GeV Dark Matter from a Surface Run

The Sub-Electron-Noise Skipper CCD Experimental Instrument (SENSEI) uses the recently developed Skipper-CCD technology to search for electron recoils from the interaction of sub-GeV dark matter particles with electrons in silicon. We report first results from a prototype SENSEI detector, which collected 0.019 gram-days of commissioning data above ground at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. These commissioning data are sufficient to set new direct-detection constraints for dark matter particles with masses between ~500 keV and 4 MeV. Moreover, since these data were taken on the surface, they disfavor previously allowed strongly interacting dark matter particles with masses between ~500 keV and a few hundred MeV. We discuss the implications of these data for several dark matter candidates, including one model proposed to explain the anomalously large 21-cm signal observed by the EDGES Collaboration. SENSEI is the first experiment dedicated to the search for electron recoils from dark matter, and these results demonstrate the power of the Skipper-CCD technology for dark matter searches.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Searching for Dark Absorption with Direct Detection Experiments

We consider the absorption by bound electrons of dark matter in the form of dark photons and axion-like particles, as well as of dark photons from the Sun, in current and next-generation direct detection experiments. Experiments sensitive to electron recoils can detect such particles with masses between a few eV to more than 10 keV. For dark photon dark matter, we update a previous bound based on XENON10 data and derive new bounds based on data from XENON100 and CDMSlite. We find these experiments to disfavor previously allowed parameter space. Moreover, we derive sensitivity projections for SuperCDMS at SNOLAB for silicon and germanium targets, as well as for various possible experiments with scintillating targets (cesium iodide, sodium iodide, and gallium arsenide). The projected sensitivity can probe large new regions of parameter space. For axion-like particles, the same current direction detection data improves on previously known direct-detection constraints but does not bound new parameter space beyond known stellar cooling bounds. However, projected sensitivities of the upcoming SuperCDMS SNOLAB using germanium can go beyond these and even probe parameter space consistent with possible hints from the white dwarf luminosity function. We find similar results for dark photons from the sun. For all cases, direct-detection experiments can have unprecedented sensitivity to dark-sector particles.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Single-electron and single-photon sensitivity with a silicon Skipper CCD

We have developed a non-destructive readout system that uses a floating-gate amplifier on a thick, fully depleted charge coupled device (CCD) to achieve ultra-low readout noise of 0.068 e- rms/pix. This is the first time that discrete sub-electron readout noise has been achieved reproducibly over millions of pixels on a stable, large-area detector. This allows the precise counting of the number of electrons in each pixel, ranging from pixels with 0 electrons to more than 1500 electrons. The resulting CCD detector is thus an ultra-sensitive calorimeter. It is also capable of counting single photons in the optical and near-infrared regime. Implementing this innovative non-destructive readout system has a negligible impact on CCD design and fabrication, and there are nearly immediate scientific applications. As a particle detector, this CCD will have unprecedented sensitivity to low-mass dark matter particles and coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, while astronomical applications include future direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanets.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Simplified Models for Displaced Dark Matter Signatures

We propose a systematic programme to search for long-lived neutral particle signatures through a minimal set of displaced searches requiring significant missing transverse energy (dMETs). Our approach is to extend the well-established dark matter simplified models to include displaced vertices. The dark matter simplified models are used to describe the primary production vertex. A displaced secondary vertex, characterised by the mass of the long-lived particle and its lifetime, is added for the displaced signature. We show how these models can be motivated by, and mapped onto, complete models such as gauge-mediated SUSY breaking and models of neutral naturalness. We also outline how this approach may be used to extend other simplified models to incorporate displaced signatures and to characterise searches for long-lived charged particles. Displaced vertices are a striking signature with virtually no backgrounds from SM processes, and thus provide an excellent target for the high-luminosity run of the Large Hadron Collider. The proposed models and searches provide a first step towards a systematic broadening of the displaced dark matter search programme.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Superradiance in rotating stars and pulsar-timing constraints on dark photons

In the presence of massive bosonic degrees of freedom, rotational superradiance can trigger an instability that spins down black holes. This leads to peculiar gravitational-wave signatures and distribution in the spin-mass plane, which in turn can impose stringent constraints on ultralight fields. Here, we demonstrate that there is an analogous spindown effect for conducting stars. We show that rotating stars amplify low frequency electromagnetic waves, and that this effect is largest when the time scale for conduction within the star is of the order of a light crossing time. This has interesting consequences for dark photons, as massive dark photons would cause stars to spin down due to superradiant instabilities. The time scale of the spindown depends on the mass of the dark photon, and on the rotation rate, compactness, and conductivity of the star. Existing measurements of the spindown rate of pulsars place direct constraints on models of dark sectors. Our analysis suggests that dark photons of mass $m_V \sim 10^{-12}$ eV are excluded by pulsar-timing observations. These constraints also exclude superradiant instabilities triggered by dark photons as an explanation for the spin limit of observed pulsars.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

New Constraints and Prospects for sub-GeV Dark Matter Scattering off Electrons in Xenon

We study in detail sub-GeV dark matter scattering off electrons in xenon, including the expected electron recoil spectra and annual modulation spectra. We derive improved constraints using low-energy XENON10 and XENON100 ionization-only data. For XENON10, in addition to including electron-recoil data corresponding to about $1-3$ electrons, we include for the first time events with $\gtrsim 4$ electrons. Assuming the scattering is momentum independent, this strengthens a previous cross-section bound by almost an order of magnitude for dark matter masses above 50 MeV. The available XENON100 data corresponds to events with $\gtrsim 4$ electrons, and leads to a constraint that is comparable to the XENON10 bound above 50 MeV. We demonstrate that a search for an annual modulation signal in upcoming xenon experiments (XENON1T, XENONnT, LZ) could substantially improve the above bounds even in the presence of large backgrounds. We also emphasize that in simple benchmark models of sub-GeV dark matter, the dark matter-electron scattering rate can be as high as one event every ten (two) seconds in the XENON1T (XENONnT or LZ) experiments, without being in conflict with any other known experimental bounds. While there are several sources of backgrounds that can produce single- or few-electron events, a large event rate can be consistent with a dark matter signal and should not be simply written off as purely a detector curiosity. This fact motivates a detailed analysis of the ionization-only ("S2-only") data, taking into account the expected annual modulation spectrum of the signal rate, as well as the DM-induced electron-recoil spectra, which are another powerful discriminant between signal and background.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Direct Detection of sub-GeV Dark Matter with Scintillating Targets

We describe a novel search for MeV-to-GeV-mass dark matter, in which the dark matter scatters off electrons in a scintillating target. The excitation and subsequent de-excitation of the electron produces one or more photons, which could be detected with an array of cryogenic low-noise photodetectors, such as transition edge sensors (TES) or microwave kinetic inductance devices (MKID). Scintillators may have distinct advantages over other experiments searching for a low ionization signal from sub-GeV DM. First, the detection of one or a few photons may be technologically easier. Second, since no electric field is required to detect the photons, there may be far fewer dark counts mimicking a DM signal. We discuss various target choices, but focus on calculating the expected dark matter-electron scattering rates in three scintillating crystals, sodium iodide (NaI), cesium iodide (CsI), and gallium arsenide (GaAs). Among these, GaAs has the lowest band gap (1.52 eV) compared to NaI (5.9 eV) or CsI (6.4 eV), allowing it to probe dark matter masses possibly as low as ~0.5 MeV, compared to ~1.5 MeV with NaI or CsI. We compare these scattering rates with those expected in silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge). The proposed experimental concept presents an important complementary path to existing efforts, and its potential advantages may make it the most sensitive direct-detection probe of DM down to MeV masses.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Direct Detection of sub-GeV Dark Matter with Semiconductor Targets

Dark matter in the sub-GeV mass range is a theoretically motivated but largely unexplored paradigm. Such light masses are out of reach for conventional nuclear recoil direct detection experiments, but may be detected through the small ionization signals caused by dark matter-electron scattering. Semiconductors are well-studied and are particularly promising target materials because their ${\cal O}(1~\rm{eV})$ band gaps allow for ionization signals from dark matter as light as a few hundred keV. Current direct detection technologies are being adapted for dark matter-electron scattering. In this paper, we provide the theoretical calculations for dark matter-electron scattering rate in semiconductors, overcoming several complications that stem from the many-body nature of the problem. We use density functional theory to numerically calculate the rates for dark matter-electron scattering in silicon and germanium, and estimate the sensitivity for upcoming experiments such as DAMIC and SuperCDMS. We find that the reach for these upcoming experiments has the potential to be orders of magnitude beyond current direct detection constraints and that sub-GeV dark matter has a sizable modulation signal. We also give the first direct detection limits on sub-GeV dark matter from its scattering off electrons in a semiconductor target (silicon) based on published results from DAMIC. We make available publicly our code, QEdark, with which we calculate our results. Our results can be used by experimental collaborations to calculate their own sensitivities based on their specific setup. The searches we propose will probe vast new regions of unexplored dark matter model and parameter space.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Supersymmetric Custodial Higgs Triplets and the Breaking of Universality

Higgs triplet models are known to have difficulties obtaining agreement with electroweak precision data and in particular constraints on the $ρ$ parameter. Either a global $SU(2)_L \otimes SU(2)_R$ symmetry has to be imposed on the scalar potential at the electroweak scale, as done in the well-known Georgi-Machacek (GM) model, or the triplet vacuum expectation values must be very small. We construct a supersymmetric model that can satisfy constraints on the $ρ$ parameter, even if these two conditions are not fulfilled. We supersymmetrize the GM model by imposing the $SU(2)_L \otimes SU(2)_R$ symmetry at a scale $\mathcal M$, which we argue should be at or above the messenger scale, where supersymmetry breaking is transmitted to the observable sector. We show that scales $\mathcal M$ well above 100 TeV and sizable contributions from the triplets to electroweak symmetry breaking can be comfortably accommodated. We discuss the main phenomenological properties of the model and demonstrate that the departure from custodial symmetry at the electroweak scale, due to radiative breaking, can show up at the LHC as a deviation in the `universal' relation for the Higgs couplings to $WW$ and $ZZ$. As a by-product of supersymmetry, we also show that one can easily obtain both large tree-level \emph{and} one loop corrections to the Higgs mass. This allows for stops that can be significantly lighter and with smaller mixing than those needed in the MSSM.

hep-ph↗