13509185
WIMP Search by the DAMA Experiment at Gran Sasso
DAMA is searching for rare processes by developing and using several kinds of radiopure scintillators: in particular, NaI(Tl), liquid Xenon and CaF2(Eu). Here only the results released so far on the WIMP annual modulation signature are shortly summarized. Next perspectives are briefly mentioned.
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.
124862840
DIRECT DETECTION OF DARK MATTER PARTICLES
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(...
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.
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.
119297206
Asymptotically safe Higgs inflation
We construct a new inflation model in which the standard model Higgs boson couples minimally to gravity and acts as the inflaton. Our construction of Higgs inflation incorporates the standard model with Einstein gravity which exhibits asymptotic safety in the ultraviolet region. The slow roll condition is satisfied at large field value due to the asymptotically safe behavior of Higgs self-coupling at high energies. We find that this minimal construction is highly predictive, and is consistent with both cosmological observations and collider experiments.
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.
8104126
Structure of corrections to electroweak interactions in Higgsless models
Recently, Higgsless models of electroweak symmetry breaking have been proposed. Based on compactified five-dimensional gauge theories, these models achieve unitarity of electroweak boson self-interactions through the exchange of a tower of massive vector bosons rather than the exchange of a scalar Higgs boson. In this paper, using deconstruction, we analyze the form of the corrections to the electroweak interactions in a large class of these models, allowing for arbitrary 5-D geometry, position-dependent gauge coupling, and brane kinetic-energy terms. We show that many models considered in the literature, including those most likely to be phenomenologically viable, are in this class. By analyzing the asymptotic behavior of the correlation function of gauge currents at high momentum, we extract the exact form of the relevant correlation functions at tree level and compute the corrections to precision electroweak observables in terms of the spectrum of heavy vector bosons. We determine when nonoblique corrections due to the interactions of fermions with the heavy vector bosons become important, and specify the form such interactions can take. In particular, we find that in this class of models, so long as the theory remains unitary, S-4cos{sup 2}{theta}{sub W}T>O(1), where S and T are the usual oblique parameters. Wemore » concur with the result of Cacciapaglia et al. that small or negative S is possible--though only at the expense of substantial negative T at tree level. Although we stress our results as they apply to continuum 5-D models, they apply also to models of extended electroweak gauge symmetries motivated by models of hidden local symmetry.« less
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.
1310354
Unitarity of compactified five-dimensional Yang-Mills theory
Abstract Compactified five-dimensional Yang–Mills theory results in an effective four-dimensional theory with a Kaluza–Klein (KK) tower of massive vector bosons. We explicitly demonstrate that the scattering of the massive vector bosons is unitary at tree-level for low energies, and analyze the relationship between the unitarity violation scale in the KK theory and the nonrenormalizability scale in the five-dimensional gauge theory. In the compactified theory, low-energy unitarity is ensured through an interlacing cancellation among contributions from the relevant KK levels. Such cancellations can be understood using a Kaluza–Klein equivalence theorem which results from the geometric “Higgs” mechanism of compactification. In these theories, the unitarity violation is delayed to energy scales higher than the customary limit through the introduction of additional vector bosons rather than Higgs scalars.