The first directional dark matter search with three-dimensional tracking with head-tail sensitivity (3d-vector tracking analysis) was performed with a gaseous three-dimensional tarcking detector, or the NEWAGE-0.3b' detector. The search was carried out from July 2013 to August 2017 (Run14 to Run18) at the Kamioka underground laboratory. The total livetime is 434.85 days corresponding to an exposure of 4.51 kg$\cdot$days. A 90 % confidence level upper limit on spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross section of $4.3 \times10^{2}$ pb for WIMPs with the mass of 150 GeV/$c^2$ is obtained.
NEWAGE is a direction-sensitive dark matter search using a low-pressure gaseous time projection chamber. A low alpha-ray emission rate micro pixel chamber had been developed in order to reduce background for dark matter search. We conducted the dark matter search at the Kamioka Observatory in 2018. The total live time was 107.6 days corresponding to an exposure of 1.1 kg${\cdot}$days. Two events remained in the energy region of 50-60 keV which was consistent with 2.5 events of the expected background. A directional analysis was carried out and no significant forward-backward asymmetry derived …
We present a characterization of a small (9-liter) and mobile 0.1% 6Li-doped pulse-shape-sensitive plastic scintillator antineutrino detector called SANDD (Segmented AntiNeutrino Directional Detector), constructed for the purpose of near-field reactor monitoring with sensitivity to antineutrino direction. SANDD comprises three different types of module. A detailed Monte Carlo simulation code was developed to match and validate the performance of each of the three modules. The combined model was then used to produce a prediction of the performance of the entire detector. Analysis cuts were esta…
We report on the design, production, and performance of compact 40-cm$^3$ Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) that detect fast neutrons by measuring the three-dimensional (3D) ionization distribution of nuclear recoils in $^4$He:CO$_2$ gas at atmospheric pressure. We use these detectors to characterize the fast-neutron flux inside the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider in Tsukuba, Japan, where the primary design constraint is a small form factor. We find that the TPCs meet or exceed all design specifications, and are capable of measuring the 3D surface shape and charge d…
Directional detection is the only strategy for the unambiguous identification of galactic Dark Matter (DM) even in the presence of an irreducible background such as beyond the neutrino floor. This approach requires measuring the direction of a DM-induced nuclear recoil in the keV-range. To probe such low energies, directional detectors must operate at high gain where 3D track reconstruction can be distorted by the influence of the numerous ions produced in the avalanches. The article describes the interplay between electrons and ions during signal formation in a Micromegas. It introduces SimuM…
MITPC is a gas-based time projection chamber used for detecting fast, MeV-scale neutrons. The standard version of the detector relies on a mixture of 600~torr gas composed of 87.5% $^4$He and 12.5% CF$_4$ for precisely measuring the energy and direction of neutron-induced nuclear recoils. We describe studies performed with a prototype detector investigating the use of Ne, as a replacement for $^4$He, in the gas mixture. Our discussion focuses on the advantages of Ne as the fast neutron target for high energy neutron events ($\lesssim$100 MeV) and a demonstration that the mixture will be effect…
The Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) is a direction-sensitive detector designed to measure the direction of recoiling $^{19}$F and $^{12}$C nuclei in low-pressure CF$_4$ gas using optical and charge readout systems. In this paper, we employ measurements from two DMTPC detectors, with operating pressures of 30-60 torr, to develop and validate a model of the directional response and performance of such detectors as a function of recoil energy. Using our model as a benchmark, we formulate the necessary specifications for a scalable directional detector with sensitivity comparable to th…
We propose a method using solid state detectors with directional sensitivity to dark matter interactions to detect low-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) originating from galactic sources. In spite of a large body of literature for high-mass WIMP detectors with directional sensitivity, no available technique exists to cover WIMPs in the mass range <1 GeV. We argue that single-electron resolution semiconductor detectors allow for directional sensitivity once properly calibrated. We examine commonly used semiconductor material response to these low-mass WIMP interactions.
A first measurement of neutrinos from the CNO fusion cycle in the Sun would allow a resolution to the current solar metallicity problem. Detection of these low-energy neutrinos requires a low-threshold detector, while discrimination from radioactive backgrounds in the region of interest is significantly enhanced via directional sensitivity. This combination can be achieved in a water-based liquid scintillator target, which offers enhanced energy resolution beyond a standard water Cherenkov detector. We study the sensitivity of such a detector to CNO neutrinos under various detector and backgro…
We present results from the first measurement of axial range components of fiducialized neutron induced nuclear recoil tracks using the DRIFT directional dark matter detector. Nuclear recoil events are fiducialized in the DRIFT experiment using temporal charge carrier separations between different species of anions in 30:10:1 Torr of CS$_2$:CF$_4$:O$_2$ gas mixture. For this measurement, neutron-induced nuclear recoil tracks were generated by exposing the detector to $^{252}$Cf source from different directions. Using these events, the sensitivity of the detector to the expected axial direction…
We study the sensitivity of detectors with directional sensitivity to coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS), and how these detectors complement measurements of the nuclear recoil energy. We consider stopped pion and reactor neutrino sources, and use gaseous helium and fluorine as examples of detector material. We generate Standard Model predictions, and compare to scenarios that include new, light vector or scalar mediators. We show that directional detectors can provide valuable additional information in discerning new physics, and we identify prominent spectral features in b…
More target mass is required in current TPC based directional dark matter detectors for improved detector sensitivity. This can be achieved by scaling up the detector volumes, but this results in the need for more analogue signal channels. A possible solution to reducing the overall cost of the charge readout electronics is to multiplex the signal readout channels. Here, we present a multiplexer system in expanded mode based on LMH6574 chips produced by Texas Instruments, originally designed for video processing. The setup has a capability of reducing the number of readouts in such TPC detecto…
The addition of O2 to gas mixtures in time projection chambers containing CS2 has recently been shown to produce multiple negative ions that travel at slightly different velocities. This allows a measurement of the absolute position of ionising events in the z (drift) direction. In this work, we apply the z-fiducialisation technique to a directional dark matter search. In particular, we present results from a 46.3 live-day source-free exposure of the DRIFT-IId detector run in this completely new mode. With full-volume fiducialisation, we have achieved the first background-free operation of a d…
Recent computational results suggest that directional dark matter detectors have potential to probe for WIMP dark matter particles below the neutrino floor. The DRIFT-IId detector used in this work is a leading directional WIMP search time projection chamber detector. We report the first measurements of the detection of the directional nuclear recoils in a fully fiducialised low-pressure time projection chamber. In this new operational mode, the distance between each event vertex and the readout plane is determined by the measurement of minority carriers produced by adding a small amount of ox…
Velocity distribution of dark matter is supposed to be isotropic Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution in most cases, however, other distribution models including anisotropic one are suggested by simulations. Directional direct detection of dark matter is expected to be a hopeful way to discriminate isotropic distribution from anisotropic one. We investigate the possibility to obtain the anisotropy and WIMP mass by Monte-Carlo simulation supposing the directional detector.
Directional detection of dark matter has sensitivity for both recoil energy and direction of nuclear recoil. It opens the way to measure local velocity distribution of dark matter. In this paper, we study possibility to discriminate isotropic distribution and anisotropic one suggested by a N-body simulation with directional detector. Numerical simulation is performed for two cases according to the detectors, one corresponds to angular histogram and the other is energy-angular distribution of the signals. We reveal that the anisotropy of velocity distribution can be discriminated at 90% C.L. wi…
We propose the first truly directional antineutrino detector for antineutrinos above the hydrogen inverse beta decay (IBD) threshold, with potential applications including monitoring for nuclear nonproliferation, spatially mapping geo-neutrinos, characterizing the diffuse supernova neutrino background, and searching for new physics in the neutrino sector. The detector consists of adjacent and separated target and capture scintillator planes. IBD events take place in the target layers, which are thin enough to allow the neutrons to escape without scattering elastically. The neutrons are detecte…
Sensitivities of current directional dark matter search detectors using gas time projection chambers are now constrained by target mass. A ton-scale gas TPC detector will require large charge readout areas. We present a first demonstration of a novel ThGEM-Multiwire hybrid charge readout technology which combines the robust nature and high gas gain of Thick Gaseous Electron Multipliers with lower capacitive noise of a one-plane multiwire charge readout in SF$_6$ target gas. Measurements performed with this hybrid detector show an ion drift velocity of $139~\pm~12~\text{ms}^{-1}$ in a reduced d…
Supernovae can produce vast fluxes of new particles with masses on the MeV scale, a mass scale of interest for models of light dark matter. When these new particles become diffusively trapped within the supernova, the escaping flux will emerge semirelativistic with an order-one spread in velocities. As a result, overlapping emissions from Galactic supernovae will produce an overall flux of these particles at Earth that is approximately constant in time. However, this flux is highly anisotropic and is steeply peaked towards the Galactic center. This is in contrast with the cosmological abundanc…
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are one of the most preferred candidate for Dark Matter. WIMPs should interact with the nuclei of detectors. If a robust signal is eventually observed in direct detection experiments, the best signature to confirm its Galactic origin would be the nuclear recoil track direction. The MIMAC collaboration has developed a low pressure gas detector providing both the kinetic energy and three-dimensional track reconstruction of nuclear recoils. In this paper we report the first ever observations of $^{19}$F nuclei tracks in a $5$ cm drift prototype MIMAC d…
We discuss various aspects of a neutrino physics program that can be carried out with the neutrino Beam-Dump eXperiment DRIFT ($ν$BDX-DRIFT) detector using neutrino beams produced in next generation neutrino facilities. $ν$BDX-DRIFT is a directional low-pressure TPC detector suitable for measurements of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) using a variety of gaseous target materials which include carbon disulfide, carbon tetrafluoride and tetraethyllead, among others. The neutrino physics program includes standard model (SM) measurements and beyond the standard model (BSM) ph…
We introduce a novel particle detection concept for large-volume, fine granularity particle detection: The Ion Fluorescence Chamber (IFC). In electronegative gases such as SF$_6$ and SeF$_6$, ionizing particles create ensembles of positive and negative ions. In the IFC, positive ions are drifted to a chemically active cathode where they react with a custom organic turn-on fluorescent monolayer encoding a long-lived 2D image. The negative ions are sensed electrically with course resolution at the anode, inducing an optical microscope to travel to and scan the corresponding cathode location for …
Now that conventional weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches are approaching the neutrino floor, there has been a resurgence of interest in detectors with sensitivity to nuclear recoil directions. A large-scale directional detector is attractive in that it would have sensitivity below the neutrino floor, be capable of unambiguously establishing the galactic origin of a purported dark matter signal, and could serve a dual purpose as a neutrino observatory. We present the first detailed analysis of a 1000 m$^3$-scale detector capable of measuring a directional nuclear re…
Radon gas emanating from materials is of interest in environmental science and also a major concern in rare event non-accelerator particle physics experiments such as dark matter and double beta decay searches, where it is a major source of background. Notable for dark matter experiments is the production of radon progeny recoils (RPRs), the low energy (~100 keV) recoils of radon daughter isotopes, which can mimic the signal expected from WIMP interactions. Presented here are results of measurements of radon emanation from detector materials in the 1 metre cubed DRIFT-II directional dark matte…
The measurement of the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a compelling but technologically challenging strategy to provide an unambiguous signature of the detection of Galactic dark matter. Most directional detectors aim to reconstruct the dark-matter-induced nuclear recoil tracks, either in gas or solid targets. The main challenge with directional detection is the need for high spatial resolution over large volumes, which puts strong requirements on the readout technologies. In this paper we review the various detector readout technologies used by directional detectors. In particula…
Directional detection of dark matter is the next generation experiment, which is expected to have better back ground rejection efficiency than conventional direct search. Another intriguing possibility of the experiment by means of the directional information is measurement the velocity distribution of dark matter. Especially, it will be potent to figure out whether the velocity distribution is anisotropic. Supposing three distribution models, we discuss the possibility in one of the directional dark matter searches, nuclear emulsion detector.
Mapping deep-mantle compositional heterogeneity using a directional geoneutrino detector
Tohoku University（东北大学）；Research Center for Neutrino Science, Tohoku University（东北大学中微子科学研究中心）；Center for Geoneutrino Research, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院海洋研究所地球中微子研究中心）；Department of Earth Science, Tohoku University（东北大学地球科学系）；Department of Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, University of Maryland（马里兰大学地质、环境与行星科学系）；University of Maryland（马里兰大学）；High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)（高能加速器研究机构（KEK））
Towards imaging Earth's large-scale structures by directional geoneutrino detection with Ocean Bottom Detector
Tohoku University（东北大学）；University of Hawai'i at Mānoa（夏威夷大学马诺阿分校）；Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory（劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室）；University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学帕克分校）；High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)（高能加速器研究机构（KEK））
Dark matter consisting of very light and very weakly interacting particles such as axions, axion-like particles and hidden photons could be detected using reflective surfaces. On such reflectors some of the dark matter particles are converted into photons and, given a suitable geometry, concentrated on the detector. This technique offers sensitivity to the direction of the velocity of the dark matter particles. In this note we investigate how far spherical mirrors can concentrate the generated photons and what this implies for the resolution in directional detection as well as the sensitivity …
Superconducting detectors have been proposed as outstanding targets for the direct detection of light dark matter scattering at masses as low as a keV. We study the prospects for directional detection of dark matter in isotropic superconducting targets from the angular distribution of excitations produced in the material. We find that dark matter scattering produces initial excitations with an anisotropic distribution, and further show that this directional information can be preserved as the initial excitations relax. Our results demonstrate that directional detection is possible for a wide r…
