Papers › Searching for Dark Matter with Paleo-Detectors

Searching for Dark Matter with Paleo-Detectors

15 Jun 2018arXiv:1806.05991links table onlyarchive 2025-07-28

Sebastian Baum, Andrzej K. Drukier, Katherine Freese, Maciej Górski, Patrick Stengel

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A large experimental program is underway to extend the sensitivity of direct detection experiments, searching for interaction of Dark Matter with nuclei, down to the neutrino floor. However, such experiments are becoming increasingly difficult and costly due to the large target masses and exquisite background rejection needed for the necessary improvements in sensitivity. We investigate an alternative approach to the detection of Dark Matter-nucleon interactions: Searching for the persistent traces left by Dark Matter scattering in ancient minerals obtained from much deeper than current underground laboratories. We estimate the sensitivity of paleo-detectors, which extends far beyond current upper limits for a wide range of Dark Matter masses. The sensitivity of our proposal also far exceeds the upper limits set by Snowden-Ifft et al. more than three decades ago using ancient Mica in an approach similar to paleo-detectors.

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tedwards2412/SN-paleology mentioned on GitHub report
tedwards2412/paleo_detectors mentioned on GitHub report

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