Underground Searches for Cold Relics of the Early Universe Laura Baudis University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
22nd Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics at Stanford University, Dec. 13-17, 2004 Underground Searches for Cold Relics of the Early Universe Laura Baudis University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA We have strong evidence on all cosmic scales, from galaxies to the largest structures ever observed, that there is more matter in the universe than we can see. Galaxies and clusters would fly apart unless they would be held together by material which we call dark, because it does not shine in photons. Although the amount of dark matter and its distribution are fairly well established, we are clueless regarding its composition. Leading candidates are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which are ’cold’ thermal relics of the Big Bang, ie moving non-relativistically at the time of structure formation. These particles can be detected via their interaction with nuclei in deep-underground, low-background detectors. Experiments dedicated to observe WIMP interactions for the first time reach sensitivities allowing to probe the parameter space predicted by supersymmetric theories of particle physics. Current results of high sensitivity direct detection experiments are discussed and the most promising projects of the future are presented. If a stable new particle exists at the weak scale, it seems likely to expect a discovery within this decade. 1. Introduction fundamental physics at the weak scale. More than seventy years after Zwicky’s first ac- counts of dark matter in galaxy clusters [1], and thirty 2. Direct Detection of WIMPs five years after Rubin’s measurements of rotational ve- locities of spirals [2], the case for non-baryonic dark WIMPs can be detected directly, via their scatter- matter remains convincing. Recent precision observa- ing off nuclei in terrestrial targets [8], or indirectly, via tions of the cosmic microwave background [3] and of their annihilation products in the Sun, Earth, galactic large scale structures [4] confirm the picture in which halo and galactic center with neutrino telescopes and more than 90% of the matter in the universe is re- space-based detectors. Here we will briefly discuss di- vealed only by its gravitational interaction. The na- rect detection only. ture of this matter is not known. A class of generic The differential rate for WIMP elastic scattering off candidates are weakly interacting massive particles nuclei is given by [9] (WIMPs) which could have been thermally produced in the very early universe. It is well known that if dR ρ vmax dσ the mass and cross section of these particles is deter- N 0 dvf v v , dE = T m ( ) dE (1) mined by the weak scale, the freeze-out relic density R W vmin R is around the observed value, Ω ∼ 0.1. The prototype WIMP candidate is the neutralino, where NT represents the number of the target nu- or the lightest supersymmetric particle, which is sta- clei, mW is the WIMP mass and ρ0 the local WIMP ble in supersymmetric models where R-parity is con- density in the galactic halo, v and f(v)arethe served. Another recently discussed candidate is the WIMP velocity and velocity distribution function in lightest Kaluza-Klein excitation (LKP) in theories the Earth frame and dσ/dER is the WIMP-nucleus with universal extra dimensions. If a new discrete differential cross section. symmetry, called KK-parity is conserved, and if the The nuclear recoil energy is given by ER = 2 2 KK particle masses are related to the weak scale, the mr v (1 − cos θ)/mN ,whereθ is the scattering an- LKP is stable and makes an excellent dark matter can- gle in the WIMP-nucleus center-of-mass frame, mN didate. A vast experimental effort to detect WIMPs is is the nuclear mass and mr is the WIMP-nucleus re- underway. For excellent recent reviews we refer to [5], duced mass. The velocity vmin is defined as vmin = 2 1 [6] and [7]. The good news is that cryogenic experi- (mN Eth/2mr ) 2 ,whereEth is the energy threshold of ments are now for the first time probing the parame- the detector, and vmax is the escape WIMP velocity ter space predicted by SUSY theories for neutralinos. in the Earth frame. On the more pessimistic side, predicted WIMP quark The simplest galactic model assumes a Maxwell- cross sections span several orders of magnitude, and Boltzmann distribution for the WIMP velocity in ton or multi-ton scale detectors may be required for a the galactic rest frame, with a velocity dispersion of −1 detection. However, such experiments are now in the vrms ≈ 270 km s and an escape velocity of vesc ≈ stage of development, with prototypes being tested 650 km s−1. and installed in underground labs. The challenge is The differential WIMP-nucleus cross section can immense, but the rewards would be outstanding: re- have two separate components: an effective scalar cou- vealing the major constituents of matter in the uni- pling between the WIMP and the nucleus (propor- verse and their doubtless profound implications for tional to A2, where A is the target atomic mass) and 0046 1 22nd Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics at Stanford University, Dec. 13-17, 2004 an effective coupling between the spin of the WIMP under additional assumptions (GUT, mSUGRA, etc) and the total spin of the nucleus. In general the coher- and accounting for accelerator and cosmological con- ent part dominates the interaction (depending how- straints, yield about 10−6 to 10 events per kilogram ever on the content of the neutralino) and the cross detector material and day [10]. dσ 2 ∝ σ0F ER section can be factorized as dER ( ), where Evidently, in order to observe a WIMP spectrum, σ0 is the point-like scalar WIMP-nucleus cross section low energy threshold, low background and high mass and F (ER) denotes the nuclear form factor, expressed detectors are essential. In such a detector, the recoil as a function of the recoil energy. energy of the scattered nucleus is transformed into a Theleftsideofequation1is the measured spectrum measurable signal, such as charge, light or phonons, in a detector, while the right side represents the theo- and at least one of the above quantities is detected. retical prediction. It includes WIMP properties which Observing two signals simultaneously yields a power- are completely unknown, such as the WIMP mass mW ful discrimination against background events, which and elastic cross section σ0, quantities accessible from are mostly interactions with electrons, as opposed to astrophysics, such as the density of WIMPs in the WIMPs and neutrons scattering off nuclei (see Sec- halo, ρ0, the WIMP velocity distribution and the es- tion 3 for a more detailed discussion). Even for ex- cape velocity (which are however prone to large un- periments with good event by event discrimination, certainties) and detector specific parameters: mass of an absolute low background is still important. It can target nucleus, energy threshold and nuclear form fac- be achieved in both passive and active ways. Passive tor. methods range from high material selection of detector The nuclear form factor becomes significant at large components to various specific shieldings against the WIMP and nucleus masses, and leads to a suppression natural radioactivity of the environment and against of the differential scattering rate. Figure 1 shows dif- cosmic rays and secondary particles produced in their ferentialspectraforSi,Ar,GeandXe,calculatedfor interactions. Active background reduction implies an a WIMP mass of 100 Gev, a WIMP-nucleon cross sec- active shield, commonly a plastic or liquid scintillator tion of σ =10−43 cm2 and using the standard halo surrounding the detector. An additional advantage is parameters mentioned above. provided by a highly granular detector (or good timing and position resolution), since multiple scatters within −2 the detector volume allow both background reduction 10 m = 100 GeV and a direct measurement of the neutron background Si WIMP Ar σ = 1e−43 cm−2 for experiments with an event-by-event discrimination Ge WIMP−n against electron recoils. Xe In order to convincingly detect a WIMP signal, a specific signature from a particle populating our galac- tic halo is important. The Earth’s motion through the −3 galaxy induces both a seasonal variation of the total 10 event rate [11, 12] and a forward-backward asymmetry in a directional signal [13, 14]. The annual modulation of the WIMP signal arises because of the Earth’s motion in the galactic frame, Counts [/kg/keV/day] which is a superposition of the Earth’s rotation around the Sun and the Sun’s rotation around the galactic center: −4 10 vE = v + vorb cos γ cos ω(t − t0), (2) −1 −1 where v = v0 +12kms (v0 ≈ 220 km s ), −1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 vorb ≈ 30 km s denotes the Earth’s orbital speed Recoil Energy [keV] around the Sun, the angle γ ≈ 600 is the inclination Figure 1: Differential WIMP recoil spectrum for a of the Earth’s orbital plane with respect to the galactic nd WIMP mass of 100 GeV and a WIMP-nucleon cross plane and ω =2π/1yr, t0 = June 2 . section σ =10−43 cm2. The spectrum was calculated for The expected time dependence of the count rate can illustrative nuclei such as Si (light solid), Ar (light be approximated by a cosine function with a period nd dot-dashed), Ge (dark solid), Xe (dark dashed). of T = 1 year and a phase of t0 = June 2 : A WIMP with a typical mass between a few GeV S(t)=S0 + Smcosω(t − t0), (3) and 1 TeV will deposit a recoil energy below 50 keV in a terrestrial detector. As for the predicted event rates where S0, Sm are the constant and the modulated for neutralinos, scans of the MSSM parameter space amplitude of the signal, respectively.