Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2024
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics and Applied Physics
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Dr. Jaehoon Yu
Second Advisor
Dr. Jonathan Asaadi
Third Advisor
Dr. Benjamin Jones
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Ramon Lopez
Fifth Advisor
Dr. Zdzislaw Musielak
Abstract
The quest to discover dark matter is one of the most pressing topics in modern physics. Evidence of gravitational anomalies is present at different cosmological scales, spanning the stability and rotation of galaxies to the overall density profile of the entire observable Universe. Due to the discrepancy between the mass measured and the gravitational influence on the mass, if General Relativity is to correctly describe gravity at different scales, extra electromagnetically invisible matter termed dark matter must exist. In recent decades, many experiments have been performed to detect dark matter with masses that span many orders of magnitude, from Mass Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) with masses several orders of magnitude that of our sun to very light particles on the order of $\sim\mu$eV. However, experiments have only been able to constrain the possible parameter space of dark matter models and, in general, probe dark matter models with single constituent dark matter like Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). In the Boosted Dark Matter (BDM) paradigm, there are four particles in the dark sector: $\chi_0$, $\chi_1$, $\chi_2$, and the dark photon $X$. WIMP-like properties are ascribed to $\chi_0$ to describe the physics of the gravitational anomalies, while relativistic components are assigned to $\chi_1$ and $\chi_2$. The inelastic boosted dark matter (iBDM) channel $\chi_1 e^-\rightarrow \chi_2 e^-\rightarrow \chi_1 Xe^-\rightarrow \chi_1 (e^+ e^- ) e^-$, where $\chi_2$ is an excited state of $\chi_1$, has a unique signature that is distinguishable from neutrino interactions, making neutrino experiments a viable search environment for BDM. Using data collected by the ICARUS collaboration with ICARUS T-600 Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) during its operation at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (LNGS), the first-ever LArTPC dark matter search using the ICARUS detector is presented. With a total detector exposure of 0.13 kton$\cdot$year, several stages of data scanning identified a total of 4 iBDM candidate events. All were rejected due to defined selection criteria and a wire-by-wire $dE/dx$ evaluation, giving a null result. Exclusion plots at 90\%C.L. for the dark photon ($m_X$, $\epsilon$) parameter space for fixed ($m_0,m_1,m_2$) DM mass sets are presented, setting new limits on the dark photon visible decay parameter space.
Keywords
dark matter, boosted dark matter, standard model, beyond standard model, ICARUS detector, LArTPC, liquid argon time projection chamber
Disciplines
Elementary Particles and Fields and String Theory | Quantum Physics
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Carranza, Hector Jr, "Boosted Dark Matter Search with the ICARUS Detector at the Gran Sasso Underground National Laboratory" (2024). Physics Dissertations. 176.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/physics_dissertations/176
Comments
The arXiv paper link to the work done in this dissertation is https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.09516.