No Arabic abstract
Dark matter particles gravitationally bound to our galaxy should exhibit a characteristic speed distribution limited by their escape velocity at the position of the Earth ($v_{esc}simeq$ 550 km/s). An ongoing search for anomalous cosmic rays at Earth, kinematically similar to cold dark matter, is described. The technique can discriminate between these and known slow-moving particles such as neutrons, would be sensitive to telltale signatures from presently unexplored candidates, and offers the possibility of identifying the mediating type of interaction (nuclear vs. electron recoils). Studies of background identification and abatement in a shallow underground site are presented. The expected reach of the method is discussed, and illustrated by obtaining the first limits for dark matter particles lighter than 100 MeV/c$^{2}$ interacting via nuclear recoils.
One of several working groups established for this workshop was charged with examining results and methods associated with the UHECR energy spectrum. We summarize the results of our discussions, which include a better understanding of the analysis choices made by groups and their motivation. We find that the energy spectra determined by the larger experiments are consistent in normalization and shape after energy scaling factors are applied. Those scaling factors are within systematic uncertainties in the energy scale, and we discuss future work aimed at reducing these systematics.
We present results of a dark matter search performed with a 0.6 kg day exposure of the DAMIC experiment at the SNOLAB underground laboratory. We measure the energy spectrum of ionization events in the bulk silicon of charge-coupled devices down to a signal of 60 eV electron equivalent. The data are consistent with radiogenic backgrounds, and constraints on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering cross section are accordingly placed. A region of parameter space relevant to the potential signal from the CDMS-II Si experiment is excluded using the same target for the first time. This result obtained with a limited exposure demonstrates the potential to explore the low-mass WIMP region (<10 GeV/$c^{2}$) of the upcoming DAMIC100, a 100 g detector currently being installed in SNOLAB.
The elemental energy spectra of cosmic rays play an important role in understanding their acceleration and propagation. Most current results are obtained either from direct measurements by balloon or satellite detectors, or from indirect measurements by air shower detector arrays on the Earths surface. Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), used primarily for gamma-ray astronomy, can also be used for cosmic-ray physics. They are able to measure Cherenkov light emitted both by heavy nuclei and by secondary particles produced in their air showers, and are thus sensitive to the charge and energy of cosmic ray particles with energies of tens to hundreds of TeV. A measurement of the energy spectrum of iron nuclei, based on 71 hours of data taken by the VERITAS array of IACTs between 2009 and 2012, will be presented. The energy and other properties of the primary particle are reconstructed using a template-based likelihood fit. The event selection makes use of direct Cherenkov light, which is emitted by the primary particle before starting the air shower. A multivariate method is used to estimate the remaining background. Using these methods, the iron spectrum was measured in the energy range from 20 TeV to 500 TeV.
We formulate a magnetohydrodynamic-particle-in-cell (MHD-PIC) method for describing the interaction between collisionless cosmic ray (CR) particles and a thermal plasma. The thermal plasma is treated as a fluid, obeying equations of ideal MHD, while CRs are treated as relativistic Lagrangian particles subject to the Lorentz force. Backreaction from CRs to the gas is included in the form of momentum and energy feedback. In addition, we include the electromagnetic feedback due to CR-induced Hall effect that becomes important when the electron-ion drift velocity of the background plasma induced by CRs approaches the Alfven velocity. Our method is applicable on scales much larger than the ion inertial length, bypassing the microscopic scales that must be resolved in conventional PIC methods, while retaining the full kinetic nature of the CRs. We have implemented and tested this method in the Athena MHD code, where the overall scheme is second-order accurate and fully conservative. As a first application, we describe a numerical experiment to study particle acceleration in non-relativistic shocks. Using a simplified prescription for ion injection, we reproduce the shock structure and the CR energy spectra obtained with more self-consistent hybrid-PIC simulations, but at substantially reduced computational cost. We also show that the CR-induced Hall effect reduces the growth rate of the Bell instability and affects the gas dynamics in the vicinity of the shock front. As a step forward, we are able to capture the transition of particle acceleration from non relativistic to relativistic regimes, with momentum spectrum $f(p)sim p^{-4}$ connecting smoothly through the transition, as expected from the theory of Fermi acceleration.
We report constraints on spin-independent weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-nucleon scattering using a 3.35e4 kg-day exposure of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment. A dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with 250 kg of active mass is operated at the Sanford Underground Research Facility under Lead, South Dakota (USA). With roughly fourfold improvement in sensitivity for high WIMP masses relative to our previous results, this search yields no evidence of WIMP nuclear recoils. At a WIMP mass of 50 GeV/c^2, WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross sections above 2.2e-46 cm^2 are excluded at the 90% confidence level. When combined with the previously reported LUX exposure, this exclusion strengthens to 1.1e-46 cm^2 at 50 GeV/c^2.