54078935
No role for muons in the DAMA annual modulation results
This paper gathers arguments and reasons why muons surviving the Gran Sasso mountain cannot mimic the Dark Matter annual modulation signature exploited by the DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA experiments. A number of these items have already been presented in individual papers. Further arguments have been addressed here in order to present a comprehensive collection and to enable a wider community to correctly approach this point.
119701812
Signals from dark Universe: DAMA/LIBRA at LNGS
The DAMA/LIBRA set-up (about 250 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) sensitive mass) is running at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN. The first DAMA/LIBRA results point out the presence of a dark matter particle component in the galactic halo, as well as the former DAMA/NaI set-up; cumulatively the data support such evidence at 8.2σ CL and satisfy all the peculiarities of the dark matter annual modulation signature.
117048271
First DAMA/LIBRA Results and Beyond
The DAMA project is an observatory for rare processes and it is operative deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. Its main apparatus is the DAMA/LIBRA set-up, consisting of ≃250 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) detectors. Its first results — obtained by exploiting over four annual cycles the model independent annual modulation signature for Dark Matter (DM) particles — confirm by those of the former DAMA/NaI, supporting the evidence for Dark Matter presence in the galactic halo at 8.2 σ C.L.. The DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA data, in fact, satisfy all the many peculiarities of the DM annual modulation signature. Neither systematic effects nor side reactions able to account for the observed modulation amplitude and to contemporaneously satisfy all the several requirements of the DM signature are available. Future perspectives are also addressed.
17766827
Investigating electron interacting dark matter
Some extensions of the standard model provide dark matter candidate particles which can have a dominant coupling with the lepton sector of the ordinary matter. Thus, such dark matter candidate particles (chi(0)) can be directly detected only through their interaction with electrons in the detectors of a suitable experiment, while they are lost by experiments based on the rejection of the electromagnetic component of the experimental counting rate. These candidates can also offer a possible source of the 511 keV photons observed from the galactic bulge. In this paper this scenario is investigated. Some theoretical arguments are developed and related phenomenological aspects are discussed. Allowed intervals and regions for the characteristic phenomenological parameters of the considered model and of the possible mediator of the interaction are also derived considering the DAMA/NaI data.
118311956
DAMA investigations on Dark Matter at Gran Sasso: results and perspectives
The DAMA/NaI experiment (≃ 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl)) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. had the unique feature to effectively investigate the presence of Dark Matter particles in the galactic halo by exploiting the model independent annual modulation signature. A total exposure of more than 105 kg × day, collected over seven annual cycles, has pointed out at 6.3 σ C.L. an effect which satisfies all the many peculiarities of the signature. Neither systematics nor side reactions able to account for the observed effect were found. No experiment whose result can be directly compared in a model independent way with the experimental one of DAMA/NaI is available so far. Searches in space experiments are not in contradiction with DAMA/NaI. Several (but still few with respect to the possibilities) corollary model dependent quests for the candidate particle have also been carried out; others are in progress. At present the second generation DAMA/LIBRA set‐up (≃ 250 kg highly radiopure NaI(...
124862840
DIRECT DETECTION OF DARK MATTER PARTICLES
30310678
Determining the chirality of Yukawa couplings via single charged Higgs boson production in polarized photon collisions.
When the charged Higgs boson is too heavy to be produced in pairs, the predominant production mechanism at linear colliders is via the single charged Higgs boson production processes, such as e(-)e(+)-->bcH+,taunuH+ and gammagamma-->bcH+,taunuH+. We show that the yield of a heavy charged Higgs boson at a gammagamma collider is typically 1 or 2 orders of magnitude larger than that at an e(-)e(+) collider. Furthermore, a polarized gammagamma collider can determine the chirality of the Yukawa couplings of fermions with charged Higgs boson via single charged Higgs boson production and, thus, discriminate models of new physics.
122894759
A detailed study of the interaction mechanisms for Si(Li) detector response functions by the direct Monte Carlo approach
Abstract A direct Monte Carlo (DMC) calculation of the complete response functions of Si(Li) detectors for low energy X-rays (keV) is proposed. Interaction mechanisms for X-rays in the sensitive volume of the detector and in the surrounding material are investigated in detail. Response functions at several energy values are calculated and compared with the corresponding experimental ones. The present approach uses a detailed simulation of individual interactions rather than the simple range formulation used by Gardner et al. [Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A242 (1986) 399] and gives better results in some cases. The physical model and calculation method presented here can be applied widely to low energy X-ray fluorescence analysis and other complicated photon spectrum analyses. In principle it is also suited for Ge detectors.
6985151
The Structure of electroweak corrections due to extended gauge symmetries
This paper studies models with extended electroweak gauge sectors of the form SU(2) x SU(2) x U(1) x [SU(2) or U(1)]. We establish the general behavior of corrections to precision electroweak observables in this class of theories and connect our results to previous work on specific models whose electroweak sectors are special cases of our extended group.
49241293
New top-flavor models with a seesaw mechanism
A new class of models is constructed in which the third family quarks, but not leptons, experience a new SU(2) or U(1) gauge force. Anomaly cancellation enforces the introduction of spectator quarks so that top and bottom quark masses are naturally generated via a seesaw mechanism. We find the new contributions to the (S,T,U) parameters and Zb{bar b}vertex to be generically small. We analyze how the reasonable flavor mixing pattern can be generated to ensure the top-seesaw mechanism and sufficiently suppress flavor-changing effects for light quarks. Collider signatures for the light Higgs boson and top quark are also discussed.
657584
Electroweak corrections and unitarity in linear moose models
We calculate the form of the corrections to the electroweak interactions in the class of Higgsless models which can be deconstructed to a chain of SU(2) gauge groups adjacent to a chain of U(1) gauge groups, and with the fermions coupled to any single SU(2) group and to any single U(1) group along the chain. The primary advantage of our technique is that the size of corrections to electroweak processes can be directly related to the spectrum of vector bosons ('KK modes'). In Higgsless models, this spectrum is constrained by unitarity. Our methods also allow for arbitrary background 5D geometry, spatially dependent gauge-couplings, and brane kinetic energy terms. We find that, due to the size of corrections to electroweak processes in any unitary theory, Higgsless models with localized fermions are disfavored by precision electroweak data. Although we stress our results as they apply to continuum Higgsless 5D models, they apply to any linear moose model including those with only a few extra vector bosons. Our calculations of electroweak corrections also apply directly to the electroweak gauge sector of 5D theories with a bulk scalar Higgs boson; the constraints arising from unitarity do not apply in this case.