Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: The absence of conclusive signals in weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) searches has motivated increased interest in alternative dark matter candidates such as axions and axion-like particles (ALPs), which also provide a solution to the strong CP problem. In this work, we employ a $\sim100~\mathrm{kg}$ scale CsI(Tl)-based detector operated in proximity to a nuclear reactor to achieve a sub-100 DRU (differential rate unit, expressed in counts/keV/kg/day) background level in the MeV energy range through a combination of active veto and passive shielding techniques. Such a low-background environment enables sensitivity to ALPs with axion--photon coupling $g_{aγγ} \gtrsim 10^{-6}$ and axion--electron coupling in the range $10^{-8} < g_{aee} < 10^{-4}$ for ALP masses between 1~keV and 10~MeV. These results demonstrate that the experiment has the potential to probe previously unexplored regions of parameter space, including the so-called cosmological triangle in the ALP--photon coupling for MeV-scale ALPs.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Sahoo, S., Verma, S., Mirzakhani, M., Mishra, N., Thompson, A., Maludze, S., Mahapatra, R., Platt, M.
Institution: Texas A&M University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: THE SUPERCDMS PROGRAM AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, ACTIVE INNER VETO FOR IMPROVED SUPERCDMS SNOLAB DARK MATTER SEARCH SENSITIVITY, ULTRA-LOW THRESHOLD CRYOGENIC HIGH VOLTAGE DETECTORS FOR WIMP SEARCH AND COHERENT NEUTRINO SCATTERING EXPERIMENTS, MAGNETIC AVALANCHE DETECTOR USING SINGLE-MOLECULE MAGNETS FOR DARK MATTER AND NEUTRINO DETECTION
OpenAlex ID: W4402502770