120025650
INVESTIGATING THE DARK HALO
The low background DAMA/NaI experiment (similar or equal to 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(T1)) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. investigated the presence of Dark Matter particle in the galactic halo by exploiting the model independent annual modulation signature. This experiment has collected data over seven annual cycles for a total exposure of more than 10(5) kg x day and has pointed out at 6.3 sigma C.L. a modulation effect satisfying all the many peculiarities of the signature. Several corollary model dependent quests for the candidate particle have also been carried out. At present the second generation DAMA/LIBRA setup (similar or equal to 250 kg highly radiopure NaI(T1)) is in operation. A R&D towards possible 1 ton NaI(T1) set-up is also in progress.
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.
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(...
2593965
QCD corrections to scalar production via heavy quark fusion at hadron colliders
We recently proposed that, due to the top-quark-mass enhanced Yukawa coupling, the s-channel production of a charged scalar or pseudo-scalar from heavy quark fusion can be an important new mechanism for discovering non-standard spin-0 particles. In this work, we present the complete O(alpha_s) QCD corrections to this s-channel production process at hadron colliders, including the results of QCD resummation over multiple soft-gluon emission. The systematic QCD-improved production and decay rates at the FermiLab Tevatron and the CERN LHC are given for the charged top-pions in the topcolor models and for the charged Higgs bosons in the generic two Higgs doublet model. The direct extension to the production of the neutral (pseudo-)scalars via bb\bar fusion is studied in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with large tan(beta), and in the topcolor model with large bottom Yukawa coupling.
55815188
Probing Gravitational Dark Matter
So far all evidences of dark matter (DM) come from astrophysical and cosmological observations, due to gravitational interactions of the DM. It is possible that the true DM particle in the universe joins gravitational interactions only, but nothing else. Such a Gravitational DM (GDM) may act as a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), which is conceptually simple and attractive. In this work, we explore this direction by constructing the simplest scalar GDM particle s . It is a Z 2 odd singlet under the standard model (SM) gauge group, and naturally joins the unique dimension-4 interaction with Ricci curvature, s 2 R , where s is the dimensionless nonminimal coupling. We demonstrate that this gravitational interaction s 2 R , together with Higgs-curvature nonminimal coupling term h H y HR , induces eective couplings between 2 and SM elds, and can account for the observed DM thermal relic abundance. We analyze the annihilation cross sections of GDM particles and derive the viable parameter space for realizing the DM thermal relic density. We further study the direct/indirect detections and the collider signatures of such a scalar GDM. These turn out to be highly predictive and testable.
118595287
Spontaneous Spacetime Reduction and Unitary Weak Boson Scattering at the LHC
Theories of quantum gravity predict spacetime dimensions to become reduced at high energies, a striking phenomenon known as spontaneous dimensional reduction (SDR). It has found nice applications to astrophysics and collider phenomenologies. We construct an effective electroweak theory based on the standard model (SM) and incorporate the TeV-scale SDR, which exhibits good high energy behavior and ensures the unitarity of weak gauge boson scattering. This also provides a natural solution to the hierarchy problem in the presence of a SM-like Higgs boson. We demonstrate that this model predicts the unitary longitudinal weak boson scattering, and can be discriminated from the conventional 4d SM by the WW scattering experiments at the CERN LHC. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
73581246
Unitarity of deconstructed five-dimensional Yang–Mills theory
Abstract The low-energy properties of a compactified five-dimensional gauge theory can be reproduced in a four-dimensional theory with a replicated gauge group and an appropriate gauge symmetry breaking pattern. The lightest vector bosons in these “deconstructed” or “remodeled” theories have masses and couplings approximately equal to those of the Kaluza–Klein tower of massive vector states present in a compactified higher-dimensional gauge theory. We analyze the unitarity of low-energy scattering of the massive vector bosons in a deconstructed theory, and examine the relationship between the scale of unitarity violation and the scale of the underlying chiral symmetry breaking dynamics which breaks the replicated gauge groups. As in the case of compactified five-dimensional gauge theories, low-energy unitarity is ensured through an interlacing cancellation among contributions from the tower of massive vector bosons. We show that the behavior of these scattering amplitudes is manifest without such intricate cancellations in the scattering of the would-be Goldstone bosons of the deconstructed theory. Unlike compactified five-dimensional gauge theories, the amplitude for longitudinal vector boson scattering in deconstructed theories does grow with energy, though this effect is suppressed by 1/( N +1), with N +1 being the number of replicated gauge groups.
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.