QUEST-DMC superfluid He detector for sub-GeV dark matter

S. Autti; A. Casey; N. Eng; N. Darvishi; P. Franchini; R. P. Haley; P. J. Heikkinen; A. Jennings; A. Kemp; E. Leason; L. V. Levitin; J. Monroe; J. March-Russel; M. T. Noble; J. R. Prance; X. Rojas; T. Salmon; J. Saunders; R. Smith; M. D. Thompson; V. Tsepelin; S. M. West; L. Whitehead; V. V. Zavjalov; D. E. Zmeev

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-12410-8

2024 Impact factor 4.8

Particles and Fields

Open Access

Eur. Phys. J. C (2024) 84: 248
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-12410-8

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

QUEST-DMC superfluid $^{3}$ He detector for sub-GeV dark matter

QUEST-DMC collaboration, S. Autti¹, A. Casey², N. Eng², N. Darvishi², P. Franchini¹^,2^f, R. P. Haley¹, P. J. Heikkinen², A. Jennings³, A. Kemp², E. Leason², L. V. Levitin², J. Monroe², J. March-Russel⁴, M. T. Noble¹, J. R. Prance¹, X. Rojas², T. Salmon¹, J. Saunders², R. Smith², M. D. Thompson¹, V. Tsepelin¹, S. M. West², L. Whitehead¹, V. V. Zavjalov¹ and D. E. Zmeev¹

¹ Department of Physics, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB, Lancaster, UK
² Department of Physics, Royal Holloway University of London, TW20 0EX, Egham, Surrey, UK
³ RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing, RIKEN, 351-0198, Wako, Japan
⁴ Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, OX1 3NP, Oxford, UK

^f paolo.franchini@rhul.ac.uk

Received: 20 July 2023
Accepted: 5 January 2024
Published online: 8 March 2024

Abstract

The focus of dark matter searches to date has been on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in the GeV/ $c^{2}$ $$c^2$$ -TeV/ $c^{2}$ $$c^2$$ mass range. The direct, indirect and collider searches in this mass range have been extensive but ultimately unsuccessful, providing a strong motivation for widening the search outside this range. Here we describe a new concept for a dark matter experiment, employing superfluid $^{3}$ $$^3$$ He as a detector for dark matter that is close to the mass of the proton, of order 1 GeV/ $c^{2}$ $$c^2$$ . The QUEST-DMC detector concept is based on quasiparticle detection in a bolometer cell by a nanomechanical resonator. In this paper we develop the energy measurement methodology and detector response model, simulate candidate dark matter signals and expected background interactions, and calculate the sensitivity of such a detector. We project that such a detector can reach sub-eV nuclear recoil energy threshold, opening up new windows on the parameter space of both spin-dependent and spin-independent interactions of light dark matter candidates.

© Crown 2024

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