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Exotic Dark Matter Search with the Majorana Demonstrator
I J Arnquist1, F T Avignone2,3, A S Barabash4
1Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|February 9, 2024
Summary
The Majorana Demonstrator sets new limits on sterile neutrino dark matter and other exotic dark matter candidates. These findings advance the search for dark matter particles using germanium detectors.
Area of Science:
- Nuclear Physics
- Particle Physics
- Astrophysics
Background:
- High-purity germanium detectors offer excellent energy resolution and ultralow backgrounds.
- Exotic dark matter models require sensitive experimental searches.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish new experimental limits on various dark matter candidates.
- To explore keV-scale sterile neutrino dark matter via transition magnetic moment.
- To constrain fermionic and bosonic dark matter interactions.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing a 37.5-kg·y exposure of 76Ge-enriched detectors in the Majorana Demonstrator.
- Analyzing the (1-100)-keV low-energy region with controlled surface exposure.
- Minimizing cosmogenic activation through careful detector handling.
Main Results:
- New experimental limits on sterile neutrino dark matter (νs→νa).
- New limits on fermionic dark matter absorption (χ+A→ν+A).
- New limits on sub-GeV dark matter-nucleus 3→2 scattering (χ+χ+A→ϕ+A).
- New exclusion limits for bosonic dark matter (axionlike particles, dark photons).
Conclusions:
- The Majorana Demonstrator provides stringent constraints on several dark matter models.
- The experiment demonstrates the potential for sensitive dark matter searches with germanium detectors.
- Further exploration of low-energy signals can refine dark matter particle physics.
