Particle Physics

Direct detection searches for dark matter are typically optimized to search for weakly interacting particles with masses on the ~GeV scale. But these experiments are, in principle, sensitive to masses as large as approximately the Planck mass, for cross sections much larger than typical Weak-scale cross sections. However, certain assumptions typically made in direct detection analyses break down at such large cross sections, and must be reexamined. In my talk, I will discuss the theoretical considerations that become important for heavy, strongly interacting dark matter, as well as new types of dark matter search that become possible at such high masses and cross sections.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98807962972?pwd=UXFWLzA0N2dPQ3JrVUo4TStmSGtWUT09

I review the main mechanisms that convert fundamental CP-violating parameters (theta_QCD and Kobayashi-Maskawa phase) to the observable electric dipole moments (EDMs). Given recent progress, the EDMs connected to electron spin (paramagnetic EDMs) are calculated. The limit on QCD theta angle is 3 * 10^(-8) and  somewhat subdominant to neutron EDM, but can be improved. The Kobayashi-Maskawa phase contributes to paramagnetic EDMs at the level of 10^{-35} e cm in units of equivalent electron EDM, which is much larger than what was previously expected.  

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96502704646?pwd=ZThQWGU2dEZPWjdPQnp2ZEpPVXRIdz09

The possibility of having DM (or a fraction of it) charged under a dark U(1) which mixes with the U(1)EM has been of interest for many years. Many different experiments search for such a millicharged DM (MCDM), under the assumption that its velocity would be distributed according to MB. However, our galaxy and local environment have a variety of effects that make this assumption highly non trivial. In this talk, I will discuss the effects of galactic magnetic fields, collisions with Cosmic rays, acceleration from Supernovae remnants, and energy losses due collisions with particles in the interstellar medium on the velocity distribution of MCDM outside the solar system. Furthermore, to arrive at an underground detector, the MCDM would need to pass through the solar wind, not be deflected by earth's magnetic field, and pass through earth's crust to reach the underground lab. We will discuss these effects as well. I will end the talk by discussing the importance of these effects on Direct Detection experiments, and whether MCDM could explain the XENON excess.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/92701168758?pwd=UlY5Smlrd1MzWmI4ZkNyNVI5d3JIUT09

Quasi-sterile neutrinos are a natural consequence of dark sectors interacting with the Standard Model (SM) sector via neutrino- and vector-portals. Essentially, quasi-sterile neutrinos are light dark sector fermions with two generic properties: (i) they mix with the active neutrinos of the SM, and (ii) they are charged under a vector mediator that couples feebly to SM matter. Various interesting phenomenological consequences result from this class of particles. In this talk, I will discuss one such consequence: new, beyond the SM matter effects that can alter in-medium neutrino oscillations. In particular, for special windows of energy and matter densities, active neutrinos can resonantly oscillate into sterile neutrinos. I will discuss how this feature could be exploited to build a quasi-sterile neutrino model that can explain the MiniBooNE and LSND anomalies, while remaining compatible with observations from long-baseline reactor- and accelerator-based neutrino experiments. I will also discuss the implications to this model from the recent MicroBooNE results, and, time permitting, from solar neutrino measurements.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95362454210?pwd=RzNCeDRkMjJXb2xNbHNkcEc1ZTdkUT09

Solar neutrinos are an inevitable background to any dark matter direct detection experiment as they closely mimic the signature of dark matter. In this talk, I will discuss the effects of solar neutrinos on the reach of dark matter-electron scattering experiments, with a focus on semiconductor and xenon-based detectors. In addition, I will present the prospects of measuring and understanding the various solar neutrino components using the same detectors, as well as the effects of non-standard neutrino interactions, thus turning solar neutrinos from a background to an interesting signal in their own right.

I will discuss electromagnetic signals generated by gravitational waves (GWs) in resonant cavity experiments.  Experiments designed for the detection of axion dark matter only need to reanalyze existing data to search for GWs in the GHz range with strains as small as h ∼ 10^{−22} − 10^{−21}. This is still far from the BBN bound on primordial sources, but it is the best direct constraint that we can currently obtain in the laboratory. To get to this result I will correct some long standing misconceptions present in the literature.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94313100053?pwd=bWk1eHh3NWM3NnB1TjR5d0xrY3BIUT09

Primordial black holes are a fascinating candidate for the dark matter in the universe. We discuss about their formation in the early universe and evolution across the cosmic history, and focus on their possible detectability at present and future gravitational wave experiments.

Stimulated decays of axion dark matter, triggered by a source in the sky, could produce a photon flux along the continuation of the line of sight, pointing backward to the source. The strength of this so-called axion “echo” signal depends on the entire history of the source and could still be strong from sources that are dim today but had a large flux density in the past, such as supernova remnants (SNRs). This echo signal turns out to be most observable in the radio band. I will present the sensitivity of radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) to echo signals generated by SNRs that have already been observed. In addition, I will show projections of the detection reach for signals from newly born supernovae that could be detected in the future. Intriguingly, an observable echo signal could come from old “ghost” SNRs which were very bright in the past but are now so dim that they haven’t been observed.  

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91076203387?pwd=UzNva3N4Zi9mV3BkMlJvUnhtRXRZdz09

Superradiant instabilities may create clouds of ultralight bosons around black holes, forming so-called “gravitational atoms.” It was recently shown that the presence of a binary companion can induce resonant transitions between a cloud's bound states. When these transitions backreact on the binary's orbit, they lead to qualitatively distinct signatures in the gravitational waveform that can dominate the overall behavior of the inspiral. In this talk, I will show that the interaction with the companion can also trigger transitions from bound to unbound states of the cloud---a process which I will refer to as ``ionization,'' in analogy with the photoelectric effect in atomic physics. Here, too, there is a type of resonance with a similarly distinct signature, which may ultimately be used to detect any dark ultralight bosons that exist in our universe.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97300299361?pwd=azhmVTR5VmpPQ1hwbkVHTUsrOGlJZz09

Higgs inflation introduces a large non-minimal coupling between the Ricci scalar and Higgs that makes the cut-off scale well below the Planck scale. In the first part of the talk, we show that unitarity is indeed violated by a resonant production of longitudinal gauge bosons after inflation, calling for UV completion of Higgs inflation. We then show that unitarity is restored after summing over vacuum polarization-type diagrams that are leading-order in the large-N limit. Scattering amplitude develops a pole after the resummation, which we identify as the scalar component of the metric, or the scalaron. This phenomenon can be understood in the language of the non-linear sigma model (NLSM), with the scalaron identified as the sigma-meson that linearizes the NLSM.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98015814051?pwd=YWdrWTJzbzJkdnFXRUxPWFJnNXVNQT09

The talk will present the status and plans of the search for low mass dark matter using electron counting semiconductor detectors. In this talk I will describe the skipper-CCD technology and the results of the SENSEI experiment using this technology for direct dark matter search. Finally, I will present the ongoing efforts to develop the next generation of experiments using this technology (Oscura).

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91739887327?pwd=V2ZiajlENjlrY1pyNWN2OFBaTUduZz09

Paleo-Detectors are natural minerals which record damage tracks from nuclear recoils over geological timescales. Minerals commonly found on Earth are as old as a billion years, and modern microscopy techniques may allow to reconstruct damage tracks with nanometer scale spatial resolution. Thus, paleo-detectors would constitute a technique to achieve keV recoil energy threshold with exposures comparable to a kiloton-scale conventional "real-time" detector. In this talk, I will discuss the potential of paleo-detectors for the direct detection of dark matter as well as for detecting low-energy neutrinos as are e.g. emitted by core collapse supernovae or our Sun. Furthermore, the age of the minerals provides the ability to look back across gigayear-timescales, giving paleo detectors the unique ability to probe changes in the cosmic ray rate or the galactic supernova rate over such timescales as well as dark matter substructure Earth might have encountered during its past few trips around our Galaxy.