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First Direct-Detection Constraints on eV-Scale Hidden-Photon Dark Matter with DAMIC at SNOLAB
A Aguilar-Arevalo1, D Amidei2, X Bertou3
1Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico.
Abstract:
We present direct detection constraints on the absorption of hidden-photon dark matter with particle masses in the range 1.2-30 eV c^{-2} with the DAMIC experiment at SNOLAB. Under the assumption that the local dark matter is entirely constituted of hidden photons, the sensitivity to the kinetic mixing parameter κ is competitive with constraints from solar emission, reaching a minimum value of 2.2×10^{-14} at 17 eV c^{-2}. These results are the most stringent direct detection constraints on hidden-photon dark matter in the galactic halo with masses 3-12 eV c^{-2} and the first demonstration of direct experimental sensitivity to ionization signals <12 eV from dark matter interactions.
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