• Open Access

Etched plastic searches for dark matter

Amit Bhoonah, Joseph Bramante, Brian Courtman, and Ningqiang Song
Phys. Rev. D 103, 103001 – Published 3 May 2021

Abstract

Large panels of etched plastic, situated aboard the Skylab Space Station and inside the Ohya quarry near Tokyo, have been used to set limits on fluxes of cosmogenic particles. These plastic particle track detectors also provide the best sensitivity for some heavy dark matter that interacts strongly with nuclei. We revisit prior dark matter bounds from Skylab, and incorporate geometry-dependent thresholds, a halo velocity distribution, and a complete accounting of observed through-going particle fluxes. These considerations reduce the Skylab bound’s mass range by a few orders of magnitude. However, a new analysis of Ohya data covers a portion of the prior Skylab bound, and excludes dark matter masses up to the Planck mass. Prospects for future etched plastic dark matter searches are discussed.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 15 January 2021
  • Accepted 13 April 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.103001

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Particles & FieldsGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Amit Bhoonah1, Joseph Bramante2,1, Brian Courtman1, and Ningqiang Song2,1

  • 1The Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute and Department of Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 2S8, Canada
  • 2Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada

Article Text

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Issue

Vol. 103, Iss. 10 — 15 May 2021

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